


MILLICENT EVISON 



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RAINBOW GOLD 



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“So NOW I GUESS YOU KNOW THE WHOLE FAMILY, FOR I HAVEN’T 
BOTHERED TO NAME THE HENS AND CHICKENS .” — Page 52, 



RAINBOW GOLD 


By 

MILLICENT EVISON 

If 


Illustrated by 

WILFRED I. DUPHINEY ^ 



BOSTON 

LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO. 


Published, August, 1920 


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Copyright, 1920, 

By Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co. 

All Rights Reserved 

Rainbow Gold 


■Korwoob press 

BERWICK & SMITH CO 
Norwood, Mass. 

U. S. A. 


SEP -9 IS20 ■' 

©CI,A576315 


To 

My Mother 
and her granddaughter^ 
Helen Margaret McEntee 


I 


4 


CONTENTS 


I. The “ Dead March " and “ Yankee 

Doodle ” 1 1 

II. Leaves in the Wind . . . .23 

III. A Journey into Exile .... 32 

IV. Peacedale 47 

V. Hobgoblin Hall 59 

VI. The Battle of Hastings .... 76 

VII. A Rainbow of Faith and a Heart of Gold 87 
VHI. Alexander the Great .... 96 

IX. Delia Issues AN Ultimatum . . .119 

X. Fugues, Fudge, and Lullabies . . .129 

XI. A Letter, a WeddIng, and a Sneeze . 142 

XII. An Adventure and Its Happy Ending . 158 

XIII. A Christmas Entertainment . . .171 

XIV. Toni Knits a Dream-Stocking . . .183 

XV. “ And So, as Tiny Tim Observed, ‘ God 

Bless Us, Every One !’ ” . . .191 

XVI. Life Darkens 200 

XVH. A Great Hope 215 

XVHI. Dreams and Shadows and Vanishing 

Gleams 226 

XIX. Lex’s Victory, Blank Verse, and the 

Macbeths 246 


7 


8 


CONTENTS 


XX. A Withered Romance .... 260 
XXI. The Starriest Way .... 273 

XXII. Dante, Raphael, and Aladdin . . 284 

XXIII. The Fire of Driftwood and a Lonely 

Star 296 

XXIV. Reed- Grass AND Roses . t . .311 

XXV. 'Toinette's Secret . . , . .316 

XXVI. Pebbles, Pearls, and Puddles . . 328 

XXVII. Treed by Taurus 339 

XXVIII. “ Merrily, Merrily, Shall I Live Now ! ” 356 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


** So now I guess you know the whole family, for I 

haven’t bothered to name the hens and chick- ^ 

cns.” (Page 52) Frontispiece 

Facing pack 

“ O wind of the sea ! Take a thought-message from’ 
me to Dad ! Blow softly and whisper in his ears 
that I love him — I love him, and trust him ! ” . . 72^^ 


“ I should love him with a love, a loyalty, that you 
have never been able to gain from any one. 
I’m proud of my father ” 

“For an invalid of over thirty years’ standing, Priscilla, 
your exhibition of strength and temper is truly 
remarkable ” 


86 




124^^ 


“ We did not drop our father’s name because we were ^ 

ashamed of him” 

“My brave little girl! My Toni, my blessing ! ” . • 35 ®^ 


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Rainbow Gold 


CHAPTER I 

THE “DEAD MARCH” AND “YANKEE DOODLE” 



Toni strummed the melancholy air in a jerky, 
disconnected manner, using her forefingers in a stiff, 
horizontal position for the thirds. She landed on 
the chords with all the force of her slim arms, pro- 
ducing a crash which was augmented by a con- 
tinuous use of the open pedal, making all the wires 
of the piano vibrate and rumble. 

XI 



12 


RAINBOW GOLD 


Mrs. Omar Khayyam, the Persian cat, was 
dozing and purring in sleepy comfort near the fire. 
She would open a green eye and half-raise her 
fluffy tail when the chords shattered the drowsy 
peace of her slumbers. Then, after a couple of 
lazy blinks at the flames, she purred and slept again. 

When Toni began the dreary march for the third 
time, her brother, Basil, who was lying on the couch 
near one of the windows, threw a magazine at her. 
It fell on the keys with a clatter of treble discords, 
and Cecily exclaimed in pleading tones : “ Oh, Toni, 
do stop! You’ll drive me mad with that awful 
thing!” 

Toni left the piano and went over to the front 
window. She curled herself on the wide seat, after 
giving the cushions a few sounding blows with her 
clenched fists. 

“ I have to do something to relieve my feelings,” 
she announced between blows. 

“ Well, if you find the ‘ Dead March ’ a lullaby 
for your nerves, it’s more than we do, especially 
when it is thumped as you play it,” said Basil. 
“ Cecily and I have our bruised emotions, but we 
don’t attempt to soothe them by adding to the woes 
of other people.” 

“No, you mope behind a magazine and don’t 
speak for hours ; and Cecily moons before the grate. 


THE “ DEAD MARCH 


13 


with a face that is doleful enough to put the fire out. 
The silence of you two is worse than any noise that 
I can make. You are as depressing as the weather. 
If I could play a noisy Liszt rhapsody or one of 
Chopin’s mildewy nocturnes, I’d give vent to my 
feelings in a classical way; but the only tunes I 
know are Saul’s ‘ Dead March ’ and ‘ Yankee 
Doodle.’ ” 

She began to whistle “ Yankee Doodle,” which 
she accompanied with a tapping on the window- 
pane in the monotonous rhythm of the “ Dead 
March.” Her breath made a little cloud of mist 
on the glass, as she watched the raindrops coursing 
down the pane and splashing on the sill. Tears fell 
from her long lashes, and her lips quivered so that 
“ Yankee Doodle ” wandered into a minor key and 
ended with a strangled sob. 

She could see the pipe from the eaves at the 
comer of the house pouring forth a tiny Niagara, 
which carved its way through a bed of disheveled 
asters until it joined a small torrent raging along 
the path to the gate. The rain descended in a 
ceaseless, heavy downpour, and the asphalt pave- 
ment of the street was black and shiny, like the 
back of a whale. A wind moaned among the trees ; 
leaves — red, brown, and yellow — fluttered sadly 
down and lay in sodden piles on the sidewalk. 


14 


RAINBOW GOLD 


The living-room of the Hamilton home had an 
air of friendly comfort which a room always ac- 
quires when the members of a family use it every 
day for work and play and cozy fireside evenings. 
Low book-shelves, filled with treasures from the 
literature of various lands, were built on all sides 
of the room except for the spaces occupied by the 
recessed windows. Above the shelves the walls 
were covered with a soft yellow paper, which caught 
the light and seemed to radiate a sunny cheer. 
There were several reproductions of famous pic- 
tures, and two or three choice bronzes and marbles. 
A Jacobean table held an inviting array of books, 
magazines, and newspapers. Willow chairs, with 
cushions of browns and yellows, were placed here 
and there, without any pretense of order; and a 
huge, old-fashioned couch added a suggestion of 
snugness to the room. 

Despite the gloom outside, the shadows that 
lurked in the corners of the room, and the depressed 
spirits of the three Hamiltons, the fire did its best 
to be cheerful. It crackled and spluttered, and the 
flames, like elves attired in ruddy gold, leaped and 
whirled in a dance of glee. A little log oozed 
moisture at one end with a soft, sizzling noise, as 
though it were repeating the whispers of wind and 
leaves overheard in the forest long ago. 


THE “ DEAD MARCH 


15 


Cecily Hamilton sat in one of the low chairs be- 
fore the fireplace. She was a plmnp, fair girl of 
fourteen, with soft brown hair, which caught glints 
of gold from the firelight, and deep blue eyes like 
dewy violets. Her hands lay in her lap, and 
twitched nervously, as she unconsciously tapped the 
fioor with a slippered foot. 

Basil, who was her elder by three years, was on 
the couch. A crutch propped against the pillows 
gave the reason for his pale face and slender form. 
He had always been delicate, and years of suf- 
fering had left their traces in deep shadows 
about his patient brown eyes. Yet there were 
times when Basil was the jolliest of the Hamilton 
trio. 

Toni, whose real name was Antoinette, was fif- 
teen. Her thin body seemed to have forgotten to 
grow, except in the way of arms and legs, so she had 
the lean, lanky appearance of a straggling bit of 
weed. Her brown eyes fiashed with anger or mis- 
chief according to her mood. Her hair was a mass 
of dark, unruly curls that persisted in escaping 
from the restraint of ribbons, as though they were 
determined to tickle her droll little face. 

“ There's the postman! ” she cried; and the gate 
clicked noisily behind a tall, rubber-coated man, 
who came towards the house. 


16 


RAINBOW GOLD 


With a bound and two jumps Toni was out of 
the room to open the front door to the postman, who 
gave her a letter addressed to Basil. 

When she returned to the others, the room was 
brightened with a golden glow from the large lamp 
on the table. Basil had left the couch and now sat 
in one of the chairs. Cecily was rearranging the 
magazines and newspapers at one end of the table. 
She winced as her eye caught the headline in large, 
black letters on one of the papers : Hamilton 
Gets Ten Yeaks In Prison." 

She crushed the paper with an angry gesture and 
threw it into the fire. The fiames blazed up as 
though they shared her anger, and when they died 
down the word, ‘‘ Prison,” glowed and seared the 
hearts of the three children, who watched it sink into 
ashes. 

There was a tense silence. Toni stood with the 
forgotten letter crushed in her hand. They men- 
tally reviewed the sorrow which had blackened their 
lives, — the hideous sorrow which had culminated in 
the disgrace of their father. His illness at the be- 
ginning of the year had been but a passing shadow, 
for, after three months at a sanatorium, he had re- 
turned to his family with renewed health and the 
old eager zest for work. He at once resumed his 
duties as president of the Argus Trust Company, 


THE “ DEAD MARCH 


17 


but the children soon noticed a look of weary 
anxiety about his eyes. 

There were endless meetings with directors ; and 
Joseph Kershaw, the vice president of the company, 
frequently came to the house. These interviews 
always left their father looking more worried than 
before, and twice they had overheard a heated 
quarrel between the two men. 

Then came a day of panic for the city. The 
Argus Trust Company closed its doors, and the 
streets were blocked with angry, anxious depositors 
whose money had been gambled away. 

Even then the children did not dream of dis- 
grace, though they realized that their father was a 
heart-broken man. His arrest was an overwhelm- 
ing blow, but their sense of security never wavered. 
The long, weary weeks before the trial held no sus- 
pense for them; for they had a firm conviction of 
his innocence, and looked forward to his acquittal 
and complete exoneration. The fact that many 
citizens put up security for bail strengthened their 
confidence, and they knew no fear when the trial 
began. 

Suddenly everything changed, and they learned 
with dismay that the evidence was turning against 
their father. Schoolmates looked askance at the 
two girls, friends ceased to call, and several stores 


18 


RAINBOW GOLD 


closed their charge accounts. The daily papers 
were darkened with slurring captions, and on this 
gloomy afternoon extra editions had been issued, 
proclaiming the decision of the court. Their kind, 
indulgent father had been found guilty! 

Toni tossed back her hair and suddenly remem- 
bered the letter in her hand. She gave it to Basil 
without a word. 

“ It must be from Grandfather! ” he exclaimed, 
glancing at the postmark. 

“ Oh ! ” gasped Cecily, and she sank into a chair 
beside him. 

Toni sprawled on a tiger-skin rug, her chin rest- 
ing on its head and her fingers clutching its wide- 
open jaws. 

Basil opened the letter slowly. It was written 
in a peculiar, cramped hand, and the boy’s thin face 
flushed with mortification as his eyes followed the 
brief lines. 

“ What does he say? ” Cecily’s blue eyes widened 
with frightened interrogation. 

“ I — I can’t Here, Toni, you read it,” he 

said, as he tossed the letter to his sister. 

Toni began: 

“ My dear Grandchildren: 

“ Permit me to introduce myself as your 
grandfather, and to offer you the shelter of the 


THE ** DEAD MARCH ’’ 


19 ^ 

home your mother deserted eighteen years ago. As 
you have probably been told, she defied me when 
she married John Hamilton, and I have not for- 
gotten it. 

“ Your father has written to me, and I have read 
a full account of your affairs in the newspapers ; so 
it appears to be my duty to care for my disobedient 
daughter’s three children. 

“ I have decided to have you come here, but I do 
not intend that my home shall be upset by your 
presence. You must adapt yourselves to condi- 
tions as you find them, and you will all assume the 
name of Hastings when you enter this house. 

“ Your grandfather, 

“ Basil Hastings.^^ 

Toni stood up and threw the letter on the table. 

“ I won’t go and live in his old house ! I won’t — 

I won’t ! ” and she stamped up and down the room 
in a whirlwind of fury. 

“ If I weren’t such a weakling ” Basil began 

helplessly. 

“He’s a p-p-p-perfect b-b-b-beast ! ” went on 
Toni. 

“ He’s a hiUt vase hillain! ” cried Cecily, mean- 
ing “ vile, base villain.” 

In moments of excitement she often provoked 
much merriment by mixing her words in a funny 
jumble, but under the stress of their emotion this 
verbal tangle went unnoticed. 


20 


RAINBOW GOLD 


“ I’m such a useless brother for you girls to have, 
crippled as I am ; otherwise we might think of some 
plan that would enable us to refuse this — generous 
offer,” Basil sighed. 

“ Dad said we were to go to Grandfather — if he 
would have us,” said Cecily. “ There is nothing 
else that we can do. We have no money. Grand- 
father is a cruel, bitter old man ! It will be awful 
to live with him. I’d rather go into an orphan 
asylum.” 

“And to change our name!” Toni glared at 
the unoffending lamp. “ Cecily Hasting s, if you 
please! Basil Hastings, and Toni — Antoinette — 
Hastings! ” 

She made a sweeping bow and distorted her face 
with a derisive grin, which resembled the open, 
snarling jaws of the tiger-skin. 

“ Our mother’s name was — Antoinette Has- 
tings,” remarked Basil quietly. 

Toni broke down. “ Oh, Mother, Mother! ” she 
sobbed, as she knelt at Cecily’s feet and buried her 
face in her sister’s lap. 

Presently Basil spoke. 

“ There is no way out of it; we have to go. And, 
in accepting our grandfather’s hospitality — ^no, I 
should say, charity — ^we must also accept the con- 
ditions he imposes. So far as changing our name 


THE “DEAD MARCH 


21 


is concerned, I shall be glad to do it. I hate the 
sight of the name Hamilton! Those newspapers 
have made it seem like a brand of shame. I want 
to forget that it is my name.” 

“Sneak!” hissed Toni, as she sprang quicldy 
from the floor. “ You and Cecily are a pair of 
c-c-cads! You haven’t actually said it, but I know 
you both believe that Dad is guilty ! ” 

“We aren’t snads and skeaks — I mean cads and 

sneaks ! ” broke in Cecily. “ The evidence ” 

“ The evidence ! ” scoffed Toni. “ Two or three 
lying witnesses, led by that vice president — that 
Pecksniff-Uriah-Heepy man whose name is nothing 
but a sneeze — Kershaw ! I know he is at the bottom 
of the whole trouble, and he is the one who ought 
to be in prison. A man with a voice like his should 
never be trusted ; it sounds like warm oil.” 

“ Business men are doing every day what Dad is 
imprisoned for, — speculating with funds entrusted 
to their care,” remarked Basil. “ If he hadn’t been 
ill, this awful calamity wouldn’t have happened.” 

“ That’s it,” snapped Toni. “ It was during 
Dad’s illness that Kershaw started his monkeying 
with stocks and other people’s bonds; and now he 
has succeeded in shifting the blame upon Dad.” 

“ If Dad could have proved his innocence,” said 
Cecily plaintively. 


22 


RAINBOW GOLD 


“ He has to prove his innocence before you will 
believe in hiin, has he? ” questioned Toni with blaz- 
ing eyes. “ Dad is innocent, and all the courts and 
judges in the world can’t make me doubt him. 
You and Basil think he gambled away those funds 
because he was ill and didn’t realize what he was 
doing; but I know that Dad had nothing to do with 
the swindle. Some day he will be able to prove his 
innocence, as you say; and then won’t you two be 
proud of yourselves! Won’t you be proud of your 
faith in Dad after you have dragged it in the mire ! 
I’ll flaunt my faith like a banner, — a rainbow on 
this cloud of disgrace; and then I shall be able to 
meet Dad with all my colors flying. But you — 
you’ll feel like a pair of worms. That’s just what 
you are — worms, worms, woemsI ” 


CHAPTER II 
LEAVES IN THE WIND 

The door opened slowly, and a trim little woman, 
wearing a large white apron, entered, carrying a 
well-filled tray. Cecily hastily cleared a space on 
the table. 

“ My bairnies, I thought ye wad find this room 
mair cheerful for your supper than the big dining- 
room,” said Jean, as she put the tray on the table. 
“And my heart will be sair if ye don’t eat well what 
I have prepared for ye.” 

“ Oh, thank you, Jeanl ” exclaimed Cecily. “ It 
is much cozier in here.” 

“ What ails my Bit Lady? ” asked Jean, looking 
at the tempestuous Toni, who had once more thrown 
herself down on the tiger-skin, with her elbows 
braced on either side of the head and her hands 
supporting her chin. 

“ I’m just getting over a storm, J ean and Toni 
blinked her tears away. 

Jean stooped and picked up a piece of folded 
white paper which lay on the rug. 

23 


24 


RAINBOW GOLD 


“ There’s writing on it,” she said, and gave it to 
Basil. 

What is it? ” asked Cecily as he smoothed the 
creases. 

“ It must have dropped out of the letter,” an- 
swered Basil. 

“ Read it, read it ! ” urged Toni, sitting up. 

Basil complied: 

“ I am slipping this inside my brother’s letter. 
He must not know that I have written; but I want 
to tell you that we — Priscilla and I — will be glad 
to see Annette’s children. They will be dear to 
us for her sake. 

“ When you come, try not to mind any harsh 
things your grandfather may say — ^he ” 

The note ended abruptly. 

“ That must be frae Miss Olivia. She was al- 
ways a puir, frightened creature,” observed Jean 
with a birdlike tilt of her head. 

“ Tell us about Grandfather, Jean,” begged 
Toni, coming to the table where Cecily was serving 
creamed chicken. “ You lived in his house before 
Mother married Dad. What is he like? ” 

“ That I did, and I’ll make ye acquainted wi’ the 
old gentleman. And it’s a cup o’ tea I’ll have while 
I’m doing it,” replied Jean, determined to get them 
sufficiently interested in her story so that they 


LEAVES IN THE WIND 25 

would eat a hearty supper while forgetting their 
sorrow. 

“ Now, I’m not going to turn ye against your 
grandfeyther, but ye might as weel ken that he’s no 
easy to live with. He had a heap o’ troubles in his 
time, and it turned him bitter, and I don’t suppose 
he’s improved with age. He’s rich, very rich in 
money, but he’s puir in soul. The love he had for 
his family was poisoned wi’ selfishness.” 

“ He’s a tyrant, isn’t he? ” asked Basil. 

“ Hoots laddie ! He’s ten tyrants. And those 
aunts, his sisters, had no more spirit than a dish o’ 
watered milk. Miss Annette, your mither, had a 
will of her ain, but even she might have wilted if 
your feyther hadn’t come along. The old gentle- 
man wouldn’t hear of the marriage. He fairly 
went mad wi’ rage and locked Miss Annette in her 
room, insisting that she should give up her sweet- 
heart, which she wadna do. The puir old man 
worshipped his daughter, and he couldna bear the 
thought of her marrying and going away.” 

“ How did Mother get out and marry Dad? ” 
inquired Cecily. 

“ I’m coming to that,” replied J ean. “ Miss 
Priscilla, that’s the invalid aunt, had a wee bit 
spunk left in her, and she arranged wi’ me a grand 
scheme, and I got a word to your feyther to be 


26 


RAINBOW GOLD 


ready. One evening, when your grandfeyther had 
gone to Miss Annette’s room wi’ her supper, and to 
give her his nightly lecture on obedience and hu- 
mility, Miss Priscilla screamed out, ‘ Fire ! fire ! ’ 
Of course, every one rushed to her room, and your 
grandfeyther was the first to get there,” Jean 
chuckled. 

“And — was there a fire? ” cried Toni. 

“ There was a wee bit of a fire, and a fine lot of 
smoke it made, for Miss Priscilla crawled out o’ bed 
and shoveled a few live coals onto the rug before 
the grate. Then she crawled back again. It’s sur- 
prising the strength that comes to invalids when 
they really need it.” 

“ Wh-wh-what happened then? ” gasped Toni. 

Jean smiled quietly. “ Of course, I was ready 
wi* Miss Annette’s cloak and hat, and a bag packed 
wi’ extra clothes ; and in the midst o’ the excitement 
we ran out of the house, and your feyther was wait- 
ing at the gate wi’ a horse and carriage. Then off 
we went to the next town, where the young folks 
were married, wi* me as one o* the witnesses. 

“ Your grandfeyther never forgave Miss An- 
nette. She wrote to him, but her letters were al- 
ways returned — torn across. Even when she died 
he made no sign o* tenderness, and there has been no 
letter from your aunts since then. Your grand- 


LEAVES IN THE WIND 


27 


feyther’s a hard, bitter old man. His soul is twisted 
out o’ shape, like that bitter-apple tree at the end o’ 
the garden.” 

“ It must be terrible to become old like Grand- 
father and be feared and disliked by every one,” 
said Toni reflectively. “ Poor old bitter-apple 
tree ! But, you know, our old tree blossoms beauti- 
fully every spring; and perhaps human beings have 
a secret blossoming-time.” 

Jean gave the girl a loving glance. 

“ Maybe you’re right, lassie ; and perhaps it is 
that your going up to that loveless home will bring 
back springtime to those three people. There may 
be a good reason for your exile.” 

I wish you could go with us,” said Cecily in 
wistful tones. 

“ No, here I stay,” began Jean, “ and here I’ll 
be when ye come back; for ye are coming back, 
baimies, when the stupid world kens that your 
feyther is innocent.” 

Toni rushed over to Jean and gave her a 
vehement hug. 

“ You don’t believe Dad is guilty, do you, Jean?” 
she implored. 

Jean drew the girl onto her knee. “ My lassie, 
your feyther had naething to do wi’ the crooked 
work, and there’s something back o’ it all that will 


28 


RAINBOW GOLD 


be brought to light some day. So he wants ye to 
go to your grandfeyther, bairnies. It’s the only 
thing to be done now. He sent his love to ye all.” 
Tears glittered in Jean’s honest brown eyes. 

“ Oh! I can’t bear to think of his being in prison 
for ten years ! ” cried Toni. “ I wish I might go 
and see him before we leave ! ” 

Jean shook her head. “No, he wadna wish to 
have ye see him there. Ye’ll be leaving for the 
North in a few days. My, but I shall miss ye! ” 

“ Let us have a little music,” suggested Cecily, 
when Maggie had taken the dishes to the kitchen. 

“ Give us some of the auld Scotch tunes, Basil,” 
requested Jean, as Toni nestled on the rug at her 
feet. 

“ Yes, Jean,” assented Basil, and he hobbled over 
to the piano. 

He laid his crutch on the floor and seated himself 
before the instrument. Here Basil was no weak- 
ling. His mastery of the keyboard was phe- 
nomenal ; and, had he not been afflicted with 
wretched health, he might have aimed for a brilliant 
career as a pianist. His wonderful talent had been 
under the wise direction of a clever teacher, who had 
recognized and developed the genius of the delicate 
boy without forcing an abnormal growth of pre- 
cocity. 


LEAVES IN THE WIND 


29 


There was nothing morbid or gloomy in Basil’s 
music. His playing had a romantic, dreamy qual- 
ity at times ; and then it would assume a verve and 
fire remarkable for a lad with his weak frame. 

Mrs. Omar Khayyam was a musical cat; and it 
was her daily custom to doze on one end of the piano 
during Basil’s hours of practice. A soft woollen 
mat, knitted by Jean, was always ready for her, 
so that her claws should not scratch the veneered 
surface of the instrument. Mrs. Omar now jumped 
up to her throne at the left of the keyboard, and 
gave Basil a patronizing look, as if she would say, 
“ Now, let us see what you can do.” 

Basil glanced at the others with a whimsical smile 
and said, We’ll begin with a splurge.” 

He played Liszt’s Twelfth Rhapsody brilliantly. 
Then followed a Chopin mazurka, dreamily sad, yet 
joyous, like bright flowers in a lonely, forgotten 
garden. 

“And now — for bonnie Scotland ! ” 

Under his delicate, caressing touch the singing 
tones of the Steinway crooned the quaint Scotch 
melodies: “Annie Laurie,” “Loch Lomond,” “Jock 
o’ Hazeldean,” and “ Lochaber No More” were 
like a bunch of Scottish bluebells tied together with 
a thread of dreamy improvisation. 

Jean, looking into the Are, saw the sun rise over 


30 


RAINBOW GOLD 


the wide moors of her girlhood home in far-away 
Scotland. In fancy she wandered there again with 
the braw laddie who had given her the faded sprig 
of heather that had lain in her Bible for many, 
many years. He had given it to her just before he 
went away to fight for his country. Now her 
thoughts led her from the wind-swept moors to an 
unknown sandy waste in an eastern land, and there 
she laid a wreath of memory’s heather on the name- 
less grave of her soldier laddie. Under her breath 
she murmured with Basil’s music: “ But me an’ my 
true love will never meet again, on the bonnie, 
bonnie banks o’ Loch Lomon’ ! ” 

The huge log in the grate, undermined by the 
glowing coals beneath it, suddenly sank and sent 
forth a shower of sparks and ashes. 

“ Piff ! paff! puff!” exclaimed Toni, as she 
scrambled up from the floor. 

“ It’s a fire we’ll be having, and me sitting here 
wi’ my gabbing tongue and my wits wandering, 
never thinking o’ putting up the wire screen,” said 
Jean. 

With Spartan courage she hastily picked a burn- 
ing coal from the rug and threw it into the grate, 
and Toni danced out the other smoking places on 
the rug. 

Mrs. Omar elevated her back with a prolonged 


LEAVES IN THE WIND 


31 


stretch and yawned. She then descended majes- 
tically to the keyboard, and Basil’s playing of 
“ Auld Lang Syne ” ended abruptly as Her Feline 
Highness walked over the keys in a cool, deliberate 
fashion, producing a theme shnilar to that immor- 
talized by Scarlatti long ago. 

“ Our music ends with ‘ The Cat’s Fugue,’ ” 
laughed Basil; and he carefully closed the piano 
after Mrs. Omar had leaped to the floor. 

The storm outside had risen to greater violence, 
and the rain dashed furiously against the windows. 
The wind wrestled, like an invisible giant, with the 
great trees near the house, lashing their mighty 
boughs and making them creak ominously. 

“ I’m thinking there won’t be a leaf left on the 
trees by morning,” said Jean. 

“ Poor little leaves ! ” murmured Cecily with a 
sigh. “A few days ago they were so bright and 
gay in their autumn gowns, and now they are torn 
and blown about by the storm.” 

“ Just as we are,” added Basil. “ We are leaves 
in the wind, tossed by the storms of Fate.” 


CHAPTER III 
A JOURNEY INTO EXILE 

The rain descended drearily and steadily during 
their last days at home. The wind, having attained 
its object of stripping the branches of their foliage, 
had departed with wild gusts of victory, and the 
denuded trees were like a vanquished army whose 
banners of gold and crimson had been seized as 
spoils and trophies of war and carried off by the 
enemy. The lawn became a sodden marsh, where 
little pools formed and splashed up, as if feebly 
defying the rain. The few remaining asters were 
limp and broken. The last sturdy sunflower, 
which stood in a sheltered corner by the summer- 
house, drooped, as the rain tore its golden petals 
away, and the ripe seeds fell like tears to the 
ground. 

“ I haven’t said good-by to anybody,” sighed 
Cecily, as they ate their last breakfast in their home. 

“ Nor I,” added Toni. “ I don’t intend that any 
one shall have the chance of snubbing or sneering 
at me.” 


32 


A JOURNEY INTO EXILE 


33 


J ean sat at one end of the table. “ Bairnies, 
don’t get bitter ! It’s trouble that shows us the true 
worth o’ oor friends.” 

“ Yes,” agreed Toni, pressing her lips together to 
keep them from quivering. “ There’s nothing like 
trouble and disgrace for testing our friends. Yes- 
terday, when I went to school to get all our books 
and belongings, I was shunned as though I was an 
infectious disease. Even Angela Moore, who had 
sworn eternal friendship with me, passed me by 
with a cold stare and an audible sniff. And what 
friends we have been all these years ! I was terribly 
fond of Angela. If — if any sorrow had come to 
her, I should have loved her more than ever.” 

Toni gulped down some cocoa and blinked two 
intruding tears from her eyes. 

“ Some of the girls spoke to you, didn’t they? ” 
asked Cecily. “ It was awfully good and brave of 
you to go after our things, Toni. I simply couldn't 
have faced them! Ever since poor Dad was ar- 
rested I have hated to go out, or even to look out 
of the window. I never want to see any of our old 
friends again ! I’m really glad we are going away, 
although I dread living with Grandfather.” 

“ Yes, some of the girls were quite decent; that 
is, they tried to seem friendly in a self-conscious 
sort of way. They looked as cheerful as if they 


34 


RAINBOW GOLD 


were gathering flowers to put on my grave. It was 
Angela’s treatment that hurt me most. Just as I 
was leaving, she returned my ruler, which she had 
borrowed ages ago, and I threw it with a shudder of 
disgust into the waste-paper basket. If I hadn’t 
indulged in a bit of temper I should have cried. So 
my temper is useful after all. Angela — pooh! 
She’s an angel of friendship, isn’t she? Her heart 
has no more friendship in it than a — a — a petrified 
mosquito.” 

Toni hacked the top off her egg with a vicious 
blow of her knife. 

“Whew!” whistled Basil; and he made an ex- 
aggerated pretense of dodging the lightning-shafts 
of Toni’s wrath. 

“ Even Jimmie Blake hasn’t been near the 
house,” continued Toni. “ And I was as chummy 
with him as I was with Angela. Besides, one 
doesn’t expect a boy to sneak and snivel and act like 
a mean snip of a girl. I think he might have come 
to see us. One would think we were quarantined 
for smallpox! ” 

“ I saw Dr. Atkinson’s motor in front of the 
Blakes’ house the other day,” ventured Cecily. 
“ Perhaps Jimmie is ill. He is always getting 
molds or cumps — I mean colds or mumps — or 
measles.” 


A JOURNEY INTO EXILE 


35 


“ He seems to have had everything but pink-eye 
and elephantiasis,” observed Basil with a laugh. 

Later in the morning, when the girls, with Jean’s 
help, were getting ready to go to the station, 
Maggie came to the door with a note. 

“ Mistah Kershaw done caUed an’ lef’ dis yere 
note. He wanted to see you-all, but Ah tole him 
as how you all wuz dressin’ foh to leab by de ’leven 
clock train an’ you-all couldn’t see nobody nohow.” 

Cecily took the note and read aloud. 

“ My dear Children: 

“ In this sad misfortune which has befallen 
you, I am anxious, as your father’s friend and for- 
mer partner, to proffer my assistance in any way 
possible. If money is required, I shall be glad to 
extend any amount you may need — for old times’ 
sake. 

“With deepest sympathy, 

“ Faithfully yours, 

“ Joseph Kershaw.” 

“ Bah ! ” exclaimed Toni. “ Oily Joseph ! Take 
his money? He has no right to it, and he knows 
it, — the pious old hypocrite ! ” 

“ And I’m agreeing wi’ ye there,” supplemented 
Jean. “ I hae nae faith in that long-faced, sancti- 
monious, sleek-haired, screw-eyed villain.” 

They were soon ready, and drove to the station 


36 


RAINBOW GOLD 


with Jean. Cecily carried Mrs. Omar Khayyam 
in a large willow basket; and Toni was laden with 
a suitcase and a heterogeneous collection of bundles 
containing articles she had forgotten to pack. 

Just before the train left, a fat, yellow-haired 
boy, with throat and ears swathed in white band- 
ages, dashed by the guard at the gate. He ran 
breathlessly up to the train-window, where Toni 
was leaning out for a last word with Jean. 

“Jimmie!” she screamed, and almost fell 
through the window, as she reached out both hands 
to the gasping boy. 

“ Laid up — quinsy this time — ^hurts like blazes — 
Doctor said, * Stay in bed ’ — didn’t know you were 
leaving until this morning — sneaked out — say 
good-by — folks will raise Cain at home when they 
find out ! Had to come — awfully sorry — eat these 
— here’s my pickled snake — it’s the best thing I 
have — couldn’t get out to see you or buy anything 
new. It’s a blamed shame about everything! I 
don’t believe your father did it. Anyway, we’re 
chums — always, Toni. You’re the best fellow I 
know! Write once in a while — hate writing my- 
self. Good-by! good-by! ” 

The train pulled out, and Toni held on her lap a 
bottle containing a snake preserved in alcohol, and 
a large box of chocolates. The pretty satin box 


A JOURNEY INTO EXILE 


37 


was smeared with rain, for Jimmie hadn’t waited to 
have it wrapped up when he bought it on his way 
to the station. 

“Jimmie’s a brick!” declared Basil. “May 
every hair of his blessed yellow head be a star for 
his heavenly halo by and by! ” 

“ Jimmie’s all right! ” cried Toni; and her dark 
eyes beamed with flashes of joy through her unshed 
tears. 

Basil drew down the window, for, now that the 
train had left the station, the rain was pouring in on 
the heedless Toni. 

She opened the box. “ Here, people, eat some 
chocolates ! I’m so glad to have my faith in Jimmie 
restored, that I’d willingly eat his snake — if he 
wanted me to do so.” 

They feasted on candies, and, when the second 
call came for luncheon, they went into the dining- 
car to enjoy the first meal they had ever eaten on a 
Pullman. 

“ Toni, why did you let me eat so many choco- 
lates?” complained Cecily, as she looked over the 
menu. “ I’m not the least bit hungry, but I may 
never get a chance to eat in a diner again; so I’m 
going to eat now, if I have indigestion for the rest 
of my life!” 

Toni settled do^vn in her seat by the window with 


38 


RAINBOW GOLD 


a little wriggle of delight, and picked up the menu 
card, which was enclosed in a frame with a handle. 
She turned it over. 

“ Ooh! I thought there’d be a mirror on the 
other side. Well, I’ll use it as a fan.” 

“ Now, girls,” began Basil with an air of impor- 
tance, “ what will you have? ” 

They read the menu over and over, imable to 
choose from its tempting list of comestibles. They 
nibbled rolls and sipped ice-water, as they dallied 
down the list, from soup to cheese and coffee. Cec- 
ily, absent-mindedly, quite lost her way in strange 
names. 

“ Let’s order something strange and thrilling! ” 
said Toni. “ Something that we have never tasted 
before, and that we shall dream about all our lives 
and smack our lips over, like the old man Haw- 
thorne describes in his introduction to ‘ The Scarlet 
Letter.’ ” 

“ What’s ‘ Marinirte Herringe ’? ” asked Cecily 
in puzzled tones. 

“ It’s some awful German mess,” replied Basil 
with disdain. “ It’s first cousin to Herr Sauer- 
kraut, and distantly related to FrMein Limberger 
Kase.” 

“ Marinirte Herringe,” mused Cecily. “ It 
sounds attractive.” 


A JOURNEY INTO EXILE 


39 


“ Planked Steak,” read Basil. “ How does that 
hit you, girls? ” 

" Steak! We often have steak at home! ” they 
cried together in scorn at his suggestion; and Cec- 
ily murmured vaguely, “ Marinirte Herringe is 
what I want.” 

“ Well, have your old herring,” scoffed Basil. 
“ You’ve never tasted Planked Steak, so let’s try it 
and find out what ‘ planked ’ is.” 

“ Perhaps it means steak that is hard as a board, 
— a plank, you know,” hazarded Toni. 

“ Planked Steak, for three,” wrote Basil on the 
order blank. 

“ Marinirte Herringe,” insisted Cecily. 

“ Marinirte Herringe, for one only/* went 
down. 

“Now let me order something,” said Toni. 
“ You have each had a chance; now it’s my turn. 
I’ll have — er — let me see — it must be something 
wonderful — er ” 

“ Oh, hurry up ! ” expostulated Basil, and the 
waiter stood smiling down at them. 

“Ah’ll put in yoh ordah foh de steak, sah, an’ 
den de young lady kin decide.” 

“All right,” acquiesced Basil, and the waiter 
started down the aisle. 

“Oh! I know!” Toni in her excitement stood 


40 


RAINBOW GOLD 


up. “ Er — ^wait a moment. Er — I’ll have — er — 
pancakes! 

“ Canpakes? I mean pancakes 1” laughed Cec- 
ily. “ You’ve often had them! 

Toni sat down with a groan of dismay. “ I had 
to order something, and I simply couldn’t get my 
eyes off the word ‘ pancakes.’ It seemed to be 
printed all over the card. I read over the list of 
soups and saw ‘ pancakes.’ I wandered among the 
roasts, and was blindfolded with ‘ pancakes.’ I 
dreamed of salads and had a nightmare of ' pan- 
cakes* When I reached the desserts I yearned for 
Peach Melba — ^whatever that is — and ordered 
‘ Pancakes.’ ” 

“ I had a similar experience,” admitted Basil. 
“ For several moments I was sinking in a quicksand 
of baked beans, but I reached out for a planked 
steak, and the plank saved my life.” 

When the steak appeared they greeted it with 
rapturous exclamations. 

“ It looks like a magnificent oil painting — one of 
Inness’ landscapes,” said Basil. 

“ It’s like a stage set for the Forest of Arden; 
and I’m sure Sothern and Marlowe — I mean 
Jaques and Rosalind — are hiding behind that little 
hummock of green peas,” laughed Toni. 

“ Isn’t it wonderful! ” exclaimed Cecily, clasping 


A JOURNEY INTO EXILE 


41 


her hands. “ It looks like one of those dear little 
Japanese gardens. It seems a pity to disarrange it 
and eat it! Why, what’s this? ” she asked, as the 
waiter placed a platter before her, on which a her- 
ring floated in a sea of spiced vinegar. 

“ It’s your beloved herring,” remarked Basil, ele- 
vating his nose. 

“ The poor thing looks — quite — sick! ” Cecily’s 
tones were dubious. “ It can’t even swim ! I be- 
lieve it must be — dead. I — I don’t think I want to 
— er — eat it! ” She sat back in her chair. 

“ Here, George, put this sad, tired fish back in 
the sea,” ordered Basil. 

“ De young lady ordahed de herring, sah. Puf- 
fickly good herring, sah.” 

“ Yes, but she’s changed her mind, and will help 
out with the steak instead.” 

A sudden quiet fell upon the three children as 
they ate; and Toni gazed out of the window with 
tear-filled eyes, as the train sped along. Their 
thoughts were with their father; and, though his 
name was not mentioned, each one knew that the 
others were thinking of the dreary prison and the 
kind, loving father they were leaving behind. The 
arrival of Toni’s pancakes helped to lift their spirits 
above the fog of sorrowful memories. 

“ M-must I eat them all? ” Toni gasped, as she 


42 


RAINBOW GOLD 


raised the cover from the dish and disclosed several 
layers of pancakes, nicely browned and steaming. 

“No pancakes for me,” laughed Basil. “ I don’t 
want to spoil my last recollection of planked steak 
— um — um I ” 

Toni sighed. “ Well, here goes! ” She helped 
herself to a pancake and poured out a tiny stream 
of maple syrup. “ If I die to-night, you will know 
that my death is due to my loyalty, my unswerving 
loyalty to — pancakes. Having ordered them, I eat 
them! Let my shroud be made of pancakes; and 
on my headstone carve a simple verse: 

“Here doth lie our precious Toni, 

Leggy, lanky, lean, and bony ; 

At the age of eight plus seven. 

Pancakes took her up to heaven. ’ ’ 

They went back to the other car and surrepti- 
tiously gave Mrs. Omar some refreshment. After 
that the journey seemed tedious. Basil and Cecily 
dozed in uncomfortable positions, frequently wak- 
ing and yawning, as they shifted and stretched their 
cramped legs. 

Toni gazed out at the darkening landscape, 
where lights soon began to twinkle through the vel- 
vety blackness; and all the time blobs of rain 
blurred the window. Occasionally the train 
stopped at noisy stations. Passengers got off and 


A JOURNEY INTO EXILE 


43 


others took their places ; and the damp air came in 
with cool, refreshing breaths, as the doors at each 
end of the car were opened. 

An immaculate, duck-suited waiter walked 
through the car. “ First and only call foh suppah. 
Diner discuhnected at SI — err — ^ush — googly — 
gurr.” His announcement ended with an indis- 
tinct jumble of syllables. 

“ Marinirte Herringe,” murmured Cecily in her 
sleep. 

Basil opened his eyes and smiled drowsily at 
Toni. 

“ Supper? ” he whispered. “ Do you feel like 
some more pancakes, Toni? ” 

“ The Marinirte Herringe ate the pancake and 
floated over the sea on a planked steak,” Cecily con- 
tinued in a sleepy oblivion. 

Basil gave her a gentle poke. “ Your conversa- 
tion is getting thick and lumpy, Cecily. Wake up 
and give it a stir.” 

“ What? ” Cecily started. “ Are we there? ” 

“ No; supper’s ready,” answered Toni. 

“ Supper? I don’t want any,” and Cecily nes- 
tled down again. 

“ I’ll get some fruit, and that will carry us 
through, if we get hungry during the night,” said 
Basil. 


44 


RAINBOW GOLD 


At half-past ten they changed cars; and, owing 
to some misunderstanding about sleeper reserva- 
tions, they had to spend the night in the day-coach, 
a hot, stuffy compartment filled with sleepy pas- 
sengers. Cecily and Mrs. Omar Khayyam slept 
soundly, the former resting her head on Toni’s lap. 
Basil dozed fitfully, often disturbed by the shriek 
of the locomotive as it plunged through the dark- 
ness. The wakeful Toni was glad to see dawn 
creep over the sky and chase the shadows across 
the bare, frozen fields; though the prospect from 
the train-window was gray and cheerless. How- 
ever, she welcomed the approach of day, after hav- 
ing spent so many hours looking at the black noth- 
ingness of night. 

She smiled at Basil as he roused himself with a 
final yawn. 

“ I’m hungry, fearfully hungry,” she whispered. 
“ I believe I could eat pancakes, or even Cecily’s 
despised herring.” 

“ We’ll get a jolly good breakfast in Portland,” 
was Basil’s encouraging response. 

“ I’m so sorry there was that mistake about our 
berths, for I have always wanted to sleep in a Pull- 
man. It would give me such a millionairey sort of 
sensation. I simply couldn’t sleep here! Every 
time I managed to get into a doze my head flopped 


A JOURNEY INTO EXILE 


45 


against the window, or the train stopped at stations 
for milk-cans, or that old man in the rear seat 
snored with the sound of a million frogs croaking, 
accompanied by a million pigs grunting.” 

“ I have slept — a little,” said Basil, “ but it hasn’t 
refreshed me at all.” 

“ All night long I have been gazing at myself in 
the window-pane,” continued Toni. 

“ Admiring yourself? ” 

“ Sure-lee ! I pretended that my reflection was 
the face of some one looking in at me. ‘ A pale, 
serious, interesting face, dark, ravishing eyes, and 
magniflcent hair,’ quoth I. Then I almost swooned 
at the vision of beauty, and felt like Narcissus gaz- 
ing into the stream.” 

Basil laughed. “ How long did that delightful 
delusion last? ” 

“ Only a moment. Then my face seemed like a 
doughy, pasty, uncooked bun, with a couple of 
squinty, black currants for eyes. My next vision 
made me decide that I resembled nothing so much 
as a peeled potato.” 

Basil’s laugh wakened Cecily, and she sat up with 
yawns and groans. 

“ O dear! Why did I go to sleep? ” she cried. 
“ I feel more tired and cramped than I did before! ” 

“ Ouch! Nursing your head has given me rheu- 


46 


RAINBOW GOLD 


matism in niy poor long legs. Think of having 
yards and yards of aching legs! ” Toni stood up 
and stretched her numbed, aching limbs. 

Basil glanced at his watch. “ Get your hats on, 
girls! We’re getting near Portland. Gather up 
your bundles, Toni. Here, I’ll put that precious 
snake in my coat-pocket.” 

“ Here beginneth the first act in our drama of 
exile,” declaimed Toni with a tragic voice. 

She took Mrs. Omar’s basket in her hand and 
picked up her gloves and parcels. The train came 
to a standstill with a sudden jerk. Toni unexpect- 
edly sat down in the aisle of the car, her parcels 
scattered about, and Mrs. Omar mewing in dismay. 

Toni laughed gayly. “ My first entrance is a 
sensational success.” 

“Oh!” cried Cecily. “You sat on the box of 
chocolates ! They are squashed — simply squashed ! 
I wish we had eaten them last night, though I didn’t 
feel like it then. Now they are wasted! ” 

“Woe is me!” groaned Toni, regarding the 
broken box with a rueful glance. “ All Jimmie’s 
scrumptious candies wasting their sweetness on the 
dirty floor. And we might have feasted again on 
them ! Oh, what a gorge we have missed ! ” 


CHAPTER IV 

PEACEDALE 

They washed and breakfasted at the station; 
and, while waiting for the train to Peacedale, which 
was their destination, they had a brief stroll in the 
dingy neighborhood. Toni wanted to go explor- 
ing, but Basil did not feel equal to a long walk, and 
Cecily was sure they would miss their train if they 
went beyond sight of the station. So Toni’s long- 
ings were thwarted, but she made them listen to her 
as she recited Longfellow’s “ My Lost Youth.” 

“ Portland is the ‘ beautiful town that is seated 
by the sea,* ” she said. “ I’m sure we have time for 
a jaunt, and I’d love to see the house where Long- 
fellow was bom, and Deering’s Woods! ” 

Cecily shivered. “ Oh ! let us go inside I This 
choggy fill — I mean foggy chill — is so depress- 
ing!” 

It was a short journey to Peacedale, and they 
caught brief glimpses of the sea as the train carried 
them along. They were the only passengers who 
alighted, and they stood on the platform, sniffing 
47 


48 RAINBOW GOLD 

the salty air, as the train disappeared through the 
fog. 

“ Umm ! how fishy and funny it smells ! ” cried 
Cecily. 

“ Grandfather evidently hasn’t sent his coach and 
four to meet us,” observed Basil, peering about. 

“ And there are no flags flying,” rejoined Toni. 
“ I certainly expected to be greeted with a brass 
band playing, ‘ There’ll be a Hot Time in the Old 
Town To-night.’ ” 

“ It strikes me that there will be a wet time here 
to-night,” said Basil. “We left a week of rain be- 
hind us, and here we are, slapped in the face by a 
fog that is like a wet cloth.” 

The station was an indistinct mass of yellow, the 
outlines of the structure being lost in the surround- 
ing grayness. Some moving, spectral forms ap- 
peared from the yellow blur and resolved them- 
selves into half a dozen fishermen, clad in flapping 
oilskin suits, which were the same color as the sta- 
tion. Without noticing the children, they passed 
by, with remarks on the fog and the probability of 
there being a good catch. 

There was nothing to be seen of the town, for the 
dense fog hung like gray flannel over everything. 
They could hear the roar of the ocean and the soft, 
regular swishing of the waves against the shore. A 


PEACEDALE 


49 


fog-bell on the wharf near by rang continually, with 
a dirge-like sound, and a muffled blowing of horns 
and whistles from passing, unseen vessels came 
through the gloom. Occasionally the shriek of a 
siren tore the air. 

“ It sounds like a selection from one of Wagner’s 
operas,” said the irrepressible Toni. “ Ah I there’s 
another yellow wraith I ” she cried, as a tall, lanky 
man emerged from the station. “ I’ll nab him be- 
fore he vanishes into vapor, as the others did.” 

She rushed over. The man turned and looked 
down at her with an air of surprise. 

“ Good morning,” she began. “ Would you be 
good enough to tell us how to get to Mr. Hastings’s 
place?” 

“ Well, I’m jiggered! ” the man exclaimed. 
“ Are you old Mr. Hastings’s grandchildren? 
Miss Hastings told me you were coming by the 
afternoon train. Caesar Silas Hupper was to meet 
you then, and I was to lug your trunks over. So I 
calculated on getting all of Ben Sawyer’s corn 
hauled this morning. I am jiggered, for it’s a 
queer welcome for you to get, with no one expecting 
you.” 

“ Is it very far to Grandfather’s? ” asked Cecily. 

“ A mite over three miles,” he replied. “ Now 
I’ve got my cart here filled with corn-shocks, but if 


50 


RAINBOW GOLD 


you young folks will climb up on top, I’ll drive you 
over now, and come back this afternoon for your 
trunks. Which are yours? ” 

“ All of those belong to us ; ” and Toni pointed to 
five trunks at the other end of the platform. 

“Five trunks I I am jiggered! Are you calcu- 
lating on starting a department store in Peace- 
dale? ” 

Toni laughed, and the stranger began to pull 
their trunks under the covered section of the plat- 
form. He paused after dragging the second 
one. 

“ It would be an everlasting, eternal blessing if 
some one did wake this town up. It’s a dead place. 
The name killed it.” 

“ I think Peacedak is a pretty name,” said Cec- 
ily. “ It sounds quite poetic.” 

The man smiled. “ Well, you’re right. Peace- 
dale would do for a poem ; but if the place had been 
called Hustletown, it mightn’t have settled down 
like a heap o’ shells, as it has. It’s Peaceddle right 
enough. The shipping business that your ances- 
tors made their money in has gone to smash, and 
there isn’t much money in fishing. There was talk 
a few years ago about starting a cheese factory 
here; and we thought that might liven the place 
some. I suggested that if the factory brought 


PEACEDALE 


51 


prosperity to the place, we ought to rechristen the 
town and call it Cheesedale. But nothing came of 
it. There! Now I guess you’d better climb up 
into the cart. Excelsior, you know, like the geezer 
in Longfellow’s poem. The cart’s so full o’ corn — 
overflowing it is; and I guess we ought to call it a 
cornucopia.” 

He laughed at his joke and led them through the 
fog, to where his horse and cart were standing. The 
cart was piled high with corn-shocks. Toni de- 
posited her bundles among the corn and scrambled 
up with ease. She held out a helping hand to Cec- 
ily, who gazed in dismay at the vehicle and its con- 
tents. Basil mounted the seat in front with the 
man, and held Mrs. Omar Khayyam’s basket on his 
knee. 

“ Well, I guess you might as well know who I 
am,” began the stranger, “ or you’ll be mistaking 
me for Uncle Sam.” 

“ You do look like Uncle Sam,” said Basil. 

“ Yes, I do; and every fourth o’ July I head the 
town procession dressed up like U. S., and riding 
Ben Sawyer’s white horse. But my name’s Jim 
Trefethen, and you’ll And a lot o’ Trefethens here- 
abouts. My wife’s name is Mary, but every one 
calls her Ma. My dog is Cerberus; the cow is 
Juno; and this horse is Polly Feemus. She’s blind 


52 


RAINBOW GOLD 


in one eye, so I named her after the one-eyed giant 
that tried to kill U-lizzies, the hero in Greek my- 
thology. So now I guess you know the whole 
family, for I haven’t bothered to name the hens and 
chickens.” 

“ Where did you get all the names from? ” asked 
Basil. 

“ That’s just what everyone asks,” answered Jim. 
“ You see, about twelve years ago a young man 
came along, taking orders for books, so that he 
could put himself through college — Yell Univer- 
sity; no, Yale it was. I remember it sounded like 
‘ jail,’ and I thought at 'first that he wanted to put 
himself through jail, and I said he could do that 
easy enough without troubling to sell books. He 
told us how he was anxious to get a good education 
and had no one to help him ; so I ordered the books, 
with a set of shelves to hold them. And I got a sort 
of college education at home, without going through 
Yale. Every night, when the light evenings of 
summer are over, I read out of those books to Ma; 
and the wisdom I’ve stacked into my head makes 
me feel like a college professor. Of course, Ma 
was a great help. Before we were married she 
taught school over to Talbot’s Corners, and for 
twenty years now she’s been working on my gram- 


PEACEDALE 


53 


“ What are the books called? ” inquired Toni. 

“ The whole set is called ‘ The Home Univer- 
sity and there’s no intellectual subject you can’t 
learn about in them — from Greek my-thology and 
the world’s best literature, down to phony spelling, 
which I take to be spelling made easy for careless 
folks. To my mind Victor Hug-o is the best 
French writer, and Dickens and Shakespeare do 
credit to the English. Did you ever read ‘ Mac- 
beth ’?” 

They all replied in the affirmative. 

“Now, there’s woman! She ought to be alive 
to-day. If she was, the women would be voting at 
the next election.” 

“ You believe in woman suffrage, then? ” ques- 
tioned Basil. 

“ Suffering Csesar! Yes. Every election time 
I say to Ma, ‘ Ma, it’s a doggone shame that you 
can’t vote!’ Of course, I’m not saying that all 
women have sense, but Ma has more than any man 
I know, by gum ! ” 

They drove slowly through the winding main 
street of the town, Jim pointing out different places 
of interest as they passed along. 

“ That’s Porky Thompson’s butcher-shop you 
see over there through the fog. You’d never take 
him for a butcher. He’s the president of the lodge ; 


54 


RAINBOW GOLD 


and when he sits up in the big chair, wearing his 
evening suit that’s getting tighter every year, the 
rest of us feel like senators at the Capitol, helping 
the President of the United States to rule the coun- 
try.” 

A few yards farther on he pointed with his whip 
to a square, red-brick building topped with a small 
belfry. 

“ That’s the Peacedale Aeademy. I suppose 
you young people will be going there. Mr. Gif- 
ford’s the new principal, and he’s the first teacher 
I’ve ever seen here that didn’t have some of his hair 
off, as if he was getting ready to wear a tight 
halo.” 

The fog lifted slightly, and they saw that the 
road was near a sandy cove, where several boats 
were lying on the beach. Fishing-nets were hung 
on frames, and piles of old clam-shells were scat- 
tered about. In the eastern distance a rocky point 
of land crowned with firs and pines jutted out into 
the sea and gave Peacedale its wide harbor. 

“ Your grandfather’s place is just beyond that 
point. That yellow house you see over there is my 
place. In summer you can’t see it, when the trees 
are in leaf. I got the job o’ painting the station 
last spring, and I used the paint that was left over 
in fixing up my house. There warn’t enough yel- 


PEACEDALE 


55 


low, so I used some gray I had; and Ma says the 
house looks like a moldy cheese.” 

Who lives in that little gray house near the 
point? ” asked Toni. 

“ That’s where Rachel Lee lives. She’s a poor 
daft creature, and has nothing to do with any one 
but Ma. Twenty years ago her husband and two 
sons went fishing up to the Banks. They warn’t 
heard of since, but every evening, just when the sun 
is building a camp fire in the west and making the 
water all red and gold, Rachel goes out to the point 
and looks for her husband’s vessel. She hasn’t real- 
ized that they will never come back. Sometimes she 
watches long after the dark comes down, and then 
^la goes after her and takes her back to her house. 
‘ You mustn’t forget to have a light burning in your 
window, Rachel, so that John can see to put in near 
the house,’ says Ma. And Rachel comes back like 
a tired child, and lights the lamp. Ma certainly 
knows how to help people, — children, old, yomig, or 
crazy. She has a gentle sort of managing way, Ma 
has. She’s a kind of Ma to everybody that needs 
help.” 

“ Have you any children? ” asked Cecily. 

“ Two,” replied Jim. “ And they’re lying in 
one little grave beside the church we passed a short 
way back,” 


56 


RAINBOW GOLD 


“ Oh, I’m so sorry ! ” And the unpulsive Toni 
reached out and laid a sympathetie hand on Jim’s 
arm. 

“ It happened a good many years ago. A vessel 
was wrecked off the coast that night, and I’d gone 
with four other men in the life-boat. Ma was on 
the beach, trying to comfort a young woman whose 
husband was aboard the wreck. The poor thing 
was nigh crazy, and wanted to throw herself into 
the water; and Ma was the only one that could 
pacify her. It was about two in the morning, and a 
terrible storm was raging. Suddenly some one 
called out, ‘ Mis’ Tref ethen, your house is afire ! ’ 
Ma turned and saw our home, with our two children 
asleep inside, all ablaze. She ran like a mad 
woman, and, before any one could stop her, she had 
rushed into the flames.” 

Ohl ” Cecily shuddered. 

“ She foimd the children in their crib — dead from 
suffocation. The flames hadn’t reached them, and 
they seemed to be sleeping and smiling. She 
brought them out, and since then she’s been Ma to 
everybody round these parts.” 

“ What a brave woman ! ” exclaimed Basil. 

“ Ma’s a good woman — a great woman,” rejoined 
Jim. “ Here’s your grandfather’s place, and I’ll 
just drop you at the gate,” 


PEACEDALE 


57 


They stopped before a large house, which stood 
some distance from the road, and which was almost 
concealed by gloomy pines and hemlocks. Behind 
the white picket-fence was a very tall cedar hedge, 
untrimmed and irregular, but very thick. A wide 
gate opened on to a straight driveway leading to the 
house, which was of gray stone, covered with a net- 
work of leafless Virginia creeper. 

I’ll bring the trunks over this afternoon,” said 

Jim, as the children alighted. “ And say ” he 

leaned over and spoke in a whisper. “ If ever this 
place gets too hot and uncomfortable for you, just 
come down to my house for a day to get cooled off.” 

They looked at him with a bewildered air, and he 
continued: “ It’s a queer place for children to be in. 
Miss Hastings has no more backbone than a jelly- 
fish; and Miss Priscilla, the sick one, has as many 
cranky twists to her temper as a porkypine has 
quills. And as for your grandfather — well, he’s 
queer! He’s had a might o’ troubles in his day and 
it’s made him mean. Sorrow affects folks in differ- 
ent ways. Some it makes sweet, kind and gentle, 
quiet and holy-like — that’s Ma. Others it makes/' 
mean and hard and bitter — that’s your grandfather. 
It may be that you children are just what those 
three lonely people need to put a little joy and sun- 
shine into their lives. It won’t hurt you to try it; 


58 


RAINBOW GOLD 


and if ever you get caught in a squall and need a 
rock of ages — that’s Ma.” 

“ Indeed we’ll come over,” responded Basil for 
all. 

“ There’s another thing,” Jim went on. “ The 
first time you meet Ma, don’t appear to notice her 
face. It’s badly scarred from the burns she got 
that night she tried to save the children. The folks 
round here have got used to it ; but when strangers 
see her, it’s something like a blow. To me Ma’s the 
most beautiful woman in the world. Every mark 
on her poor face seems like the light shining round 
an angel. There isn’t an angel in Heaven that can 
come up to Ma. They had to go to Heaven to be 
angels; Ma’s one already! ” 

He turned the horse and paused before he drove 
back. 

“ Say! you all just come over some Saturday 
night for supper and you’ll get the best beans and 
brown-bread cooked by the best cook in the State o’ 
Maine — that’s Ma!” 


CHAPTER V 
HOBGOBLIN HALL 

After watching Jim Trefethen drive out of sight 
they turned to the gate. Looking up the long 
driveway, they could see the front entrance of the 
house, with its old colonial porch. All the windows 
were hidden with dark-green shutters tightly closed. 

“ ‘ All hope abandon ye who enter here,’ ” quoted 
Toni dolefully as Basil opened the gate and they 
passed in. 

“ It looks about as cheerful and inviting as a 
tomb,” said Basil. 

“ How dreary the pines seem ! ” exclaimed Cec- 
ily. ** They look like plumes from a giant’s 
hearse.” 

“ Ugh! ” shuddered Toni. “ The whole place is 
weird enough to be Hobgoblin Hall. Grandfather 
will be an ogre, and the two aunts a pair of witches.” 

Mrs. Omar Khajryam began to mew piteously as 
they walked slowly up the avenue. 

69 


60 


RAINBOW GOLD 


“ Even the cat is depressed! ” said Toni grimly. 

When they reached the door everything seemed 
shut and deserted. The brass knocker, urged by 
Toni, spoke up for them several times, but brought 
forth no response. 

“ Let us find a side entrance,” suggested Basil. 

They followed a path leading to the right, and, 
after turning the corner of the house, they discov- 
ered a wide veranda. A dark, paneled door lead- 
ing into the house stood slightly ajar. 

Toni knocked at the door but gained no answer. 
Then she walked along the veranda. Through 
thick cream-net curtains she saw the flickering light 
of a grate fire and heard the sound of a small bell 
ringing impatiently. 

“ I’m going in,” she announced. “ There’s some 
one in that room to the right; and I’m going to de- 
mand a parley without delay.” 

She pushed the heavy door open and the others 
followed. They found themselves in a large square 
hall. It was dimly lighted by a window at the half- 
way turn of the staircase, which mounted with wide, 
shallow steps from the gloom at the other end of the 
hall. Near the staircase window, which was 
flanked by a broad, low seat, stood a tall old-fash- 
ioned clock, ticking solemnly. 

“ Tick-tock, tick-tock,” said Toni, keeping time 


HOBGOBLIN HALL 


61 

with the clock. “ Hasn’t it an ominous sound ! It 
corresponds with the beating of my heart.” 

She paused before a closed door, and put her suit- 
case down. 

“ H’ml I think this must be the door for us,” 
and she rapped gently. 

“ Come in,” answered a low voice with deep con- 
tralto tones. 

Toni opened the door slowly, and the three chil- 
dren walked in. Cecily placed Mrs. Omar’s basket 
on the floor just inside the door. 

“ Annette’s children! ” exclaimed the voice. 

On a low deck-chair, built up with gray denim 
pillows, sat a woman wearing a gray eiderdown 
dressing-gown. 

“ The Gray Lady,” Toni mentally christened 
her; and, indeed, the name was suitable, for every- 
thing about her was gray. Her hair, drawn tightly 
back from her face, her eyes, and even her com- 
plexion were tinged with the same dull shade. 

“ Are you Aunt Priscilla? ” asked Basil, as he 
hobbled forward. 

Aunt Priscilla nodded affirmatively, and she 
looked at them through half-closed eyes for several 
minutes without saying a word. 

“ You ” — she pointed to Cecily, who started vio- 
lently — “ have about as much sense as a pretty, 


62 


RAINBOW GOLD 


soft, juicy peach. Most people like peaches. 
Humph! You” — here the finger was aimed at 
Basil — “ are a hothouse plant, a dreamer. 
Humph! ” 

She looked Toni over and nodded her head. 
“Humph! You are a prickly little chestnut. 
Humph!” 

Her finger pointed directly towards the tip of 
Toni’s nose. 

“ There’s something wrong with my nose,” 
thought Toni in wild alarm; and she looked down 
to see what the trouble was. 

“Good heavens! Are you cross-eyed?” ejacu- 
lated Aunt Priscilla. 

“ N-n-no! ” stammered Toni, and her eyes lifted 
their gaze from her nose. “ I thought there was 
something on my nose ; a smudge — or some- 
thing.” 

Mrs. Omar Khayyam began to scratch and mew 
in her basket. 

“ What’s that? ” exclaimed Aunt Priscilla. 

“ It’s our Cersian pat — I mean our Persian cat,” 
explained Cecily. 

“ Yes,” added Toni, stooping to open the basket, 
“ this is Mrs. Omar Khaj^yam; and she is a beauty.” 

Mrs. Omar stepped out with great dignity. She 
gazed about the room with an air of calm delibera- 


HOBGOBLIN HALL 


63 


tion. Then she stretched herself and gave a pro- 
digious yawn. To the astonishment of the three 
children, Mrs. Omar coolly walked across the room 
and leaped up to Aunt Priscilla’s lap. She nestled 
among the folds of the ugly gray rug and began to 
purr her song of peaceful satisfaction. 

Aunt Priscilla gave a little start, and then 
reached with her thin hands and stroked the fluffy 
fur. 

“ Humph I ” she grunted ; and Mrs. Omar’s purr- 
ing swelled into a fortissimo, proclaiming that Her 
Persian Majesty was entirely satisfled with her sur- 
roundings. 

The door opened, and a tall, thin woman, another 
Gray Lady, entered. She gave a little movement 
of surprise when she saw the children ; but her face 
quickly assumed its dull expression of apathy. She 
shook hands with them limply; “ like a sick mon- 
key,” as Toni afterwards described it. Her voice 
was a dull monotone, and she had a peculiar habit of 
pausing before the last word of her sentences. 
Sometimes the sentences remained unfinished, as if 
the slowness of her speech had exhausted all her 
breath and she thought the last word instead of 
uttering it. 

“ You were not expected until this — afternoon. 
The letter to my brother said Your rooms 


64 


RAINBOW GOLD 


are ready, and I will show you — up-stairs. A cat! ** 
Here another gleam of life shone through the dull- 
ness of her countenance, “ My brother will be 

He loathes — cats.” 

“ Humph! ” came from Aunt Priscilla. 

As they followed Aunt Olivia from the room 
Toni turned and saw Aunt Priscilla beckoning to 
her. She ran over to her aunt’s chair. 

“ If there’s any trouble about the cat, you’ll hear 
from me. Humph ! ” 

Toni nodded with a quick bright smile and hur- 
ried after the others. 

“We don’t use the front part of the — house,” 
observed Aunt Olivia as they ascended the stairs. 
“ It is — a large — place. We have — only one 
woman and a man — to do the — work. My brother 
says — you two girls — will have to look after your 
own — room.” 

They entered a large, cheerless bedroom with a 
dark oak wainscoting running round it. The high 
four-poster, the bureau, and wash-stand were of 
choice mahogany. Some stiff, straight-backed 
chairs upholstered in gray rep, and a large, clumsy 
armchair completed the furnishings. Two win- 
dows opened on a balcony overlooking the sea. 
Wood was laid, ready for a fire in the grate, and a 
box of logs stood near. 


HOBGOBLIN HALL 


65 


There were three open doors leading into clothes- 
closets, which seemed like vast, yawning caverns of 
darkness. 

Aunt Olivia turned to Basil. “ This is your — 

room. And this door leads into ” she added 

to the girls. 

The second room was larger than Basil’s, and 
there were two small beds covered with old-fash- 
ioned patchwork quilts. There was the same 
gloomy wainscoting, with the dismal gray kalsomin- 
ing above it. A mantelpiece, twin to that in 
Basil’s room, was part of the intervening wall, and 
showed that both grates shared the same chimney. 
This corner room had large windows on two sides, 
giving a wonderful outlook across the ocean. 

Aunt Olivia drew aside a curtain and looked out 
with a far-off gaze. After a moment she turned 
towards them and said half -dreamily, as if un- 
consciously musing aloud, “ The sea is like life — 
vast, mysterious, and — gray.” The last word was 
uttered with a visible effort. 

She crossed the room and opened a door leading 
into the hall. Reverting to her apathetic tones, she 
told them in clipped-off sentences that the bathroom 
was around the first turning; and that dinner would 
be ready very soon. With that she disappeared 
and the door closed gently behind her. 


66 


RAINBOW GOLD 


“ Humph!” ejaculated Toni; and she sat down 
with a thump in a creaking rocking-chair. 

Basil stood smiling in the connecting doorway, 
and Cecily began to remove her hat. 

“ ‘ I’m aweary, I’m aweary, I would that I were 
dead,’ ” groaned Toni to an accompaniment of 
rumbles and creaks as she rocked to and fro. 

She tossed her brown beaver hat over to the bed. 
Her gloves followed and fell upon the floor; and 
she slipped her coat off, over the back of the chair 
she occupied. 

Basil went over to the window. “ The sea may 
be like life, as Aunt Olivia said; but I think it is like 
a huge pot of gray soup, or, I suppose I should 
say — gravy f' he said. 

“ It’s gray dye! ” cried Toni. “And everything 
in this dreary place has been dipped in it and dyed 
gray, gray, gray! Those marble mantelpieces are 
like tombstones that have lost themselves on their 
way to the churchyard and have wandered into the 
house by mistake. Those big, dark cupboards are 
vaults where all our buried ancestors lie — festering 
in their shrouds. Ugh!” 

She joined Basil at the window. 

“ Oh, you dreary sea! ” she said, shaking her fist. 
“ Gray sky, gray sea, gray rocks, gray world, gray 
life!” 


HOBGOBLIN HALL 


67 


“ We’ll be getting a gray mold on ourselves if 
you talk like that any longer, Toni,” laughed Basil. 
“ I’m going to light your fire, girls, and get some 
cheer into this room.” 

The flames began to crackle with the merry sound 
of tiny hands clapping, and soon a ruddy glow of 
cheerful warmth spread over the room. 

“At any rate, we are well supplied with wood,” 
observed Cecily, glancing into the box which stood 
near the grate, and which was painted gray, in 
imitation of the marble. 

Toni went over to the bureau and began to brush 
her hair with energetic strokes. Cecily had already 
set out their combs and brushes on the shining ma- 
hogany, which was protected with a white cover 
edged with knitted lace. 

Toni gave a half -suppressed shriek. “ Look at 
me! Look at me! I’m actually turning gray! 
I’m moldy already! ” 

The mirror was misty with dampness, and Toni’s 
dim reflection gave her face a gray tinge. She 
seized her hand-mirror and rushed over to the fire. 

“ Oh, I’m brown after all! ” she sighed content- 
edly as she looked at herself with the rosy firelight 
playing upon her olive skin. 

“ Shall we go down-stairs now? ” suggested 
Cecily. 


68 


RAINBOW GOLD 


Toni scrambled up from the rug. “ Now for 
Grandfather! He’ll be a gray ogre, I suppose.” 

Aunt Olivia met them at the foot of the stairs. 
She led them to the living-room, where a long table, 
concealed by a shining white cloth, was set with 
willow-pattern china and quaint, massive silver. 
A cheerful fire burned in the grate, and the man- 
tel-shelf was supported by figures with hideous 
grinning faces carved in black marble. The fire- 
light seemed to play hide-and-seek about the room, 
and sometimes lurked in a long mirror between two 
windows ; then, flitting over the silver on the table, 
it wandered behind the dull gilt frames of the old 
paintings which adorned the walls. 

There were several rows of well-filled book- 
shelves at one end of the room, and a table stood 
near, with writing-materials, a work-basket, and 
magazines on it. 

Four plates of steaming soup were on the dinner- 
table, and the children seated themselves as Aunt 
Olivia’s gesture indicated. 

“Where’s Grandfather?” Toni’s interrogative 
glance said to the others. 

No one spoke. Toni crushed Cecily’s incipient 
giggle with a frown. The oppressive silence was 
unbroken, except for the crepitating noise of the 
flames. 


HOBGOBLIN HALL 


69 


Presently the servant came in to remove the 
plates. She was a thick-set woman, with a droop- 
ing mouth and peculiar elevated eyebrows, so that 
her face had a continual expression of interroga- 
tion. Black down shadowed her upper lip. Aunt 
Olivia addressed her by the name of Delia. 

Delia had evidently refused to be influenced by 
the grayness of her surroundings, for her clothes 
were a mixture of colors that would have done 
credit to the multi-colored garment of the biblical 
Joseph. Her orange blouse was ornamented at the 
neck with a bright red tie, and it glared at her Ox- 
ford-blue skirt over the fence of a high green belt 
which was fastened with gilt buttons. 

The soup, which, like a much-advertised English 
cocoa, was grateful and comforting, was followed 
by baked fish and potatoes. Then came dessert — 
pancakes! Toni could not repress a funny little 
chuckle as Aunt Olivia raised the cover from the 
dish which Delia placed before her. 

“ Did you — speak? ” asked Aunt Olivia. 

The children looked at each other. Aunt Olivia 
paused and waited expectantly for a reply. 

“ We — we — just love pancakes! ” burst out Toni 
in desperation. 

Basil’s crutch, which was propped against his 
chair, fell with a crash to the floor and he reached 


70 


RAINBOW GOLD 


down to get it, hiding his laughing face from their 
view. Cecily choked and spluttered. Aunt Olivia, 
quite unperturbed, helped them liberally to pan- 
cakes, and they ate in solemn silence, though Cecily 
glared at Toni with each mouthful. 

Aimt Olivia rose at the end of the meal. “At 
four o’clock my brother wishes to see — you. Not 
together — the youngest one first.” She left the 
room. 

“ Whatever made you say we liked pancakes? ” 
questioned Cecily indignantly. 

“ I don’t know. Some one had to say something, 
so I said it,” replied Toni. “ My brain is turning — 
I’m going crazy. Never mention pancakes to me 
again ! I loathe them more than you do.” 

The black marble clock, with a bronze lion repos- 
ing on the top, chimed the half-hour from the 
mantelpiece. 

“ Twelve-thirty. What are you girls going to 
do between now and four? ” 

“ Let’s go for a walk along the shore, Cecily. It 
will be exciting. Come on,” coaxed Toni. 

“ I suppose we might as well do that as any- 
thing,” Cecily answered in dubious tones. 

“ I wish I could go with you.” Basil’s voice was 
regretful. “ I’ll hunt up a book from these 
shelves.” 


HOBGOBLIN HALL 


71 


“ Good luck to you,” laughed Toni. “ I imagine 
you’ll find them filled with books like ‘Anatomy of 
Melancholy,’ Fox’s ‘ Book of Martyrs,’ Somebody’s 
dreary ‘ Meditations on Life,’ and others of a 
similar cheerful nature.” 

“ Dickens ! ” cried Basil with the joyous tones of 
a shipwrecked sailor seeing land after drifting hope- 
lessly for days. “ Here’s ‘ Martin Chuzzlewit ’ I 
Now for Martin; and when you come home you will 
find me a regular Mark Tapley for being jolly! ” 
The girls put on their hats and coats and hurried 
out. A winding path led them to the edge of the 
cliff, and there they found a primitive stairway 
descending to the rocky shore. 

Toni clapped her hands. “ Let us go this way, 
where it is rugged and bleak. If we go round the 
point, we shall find ourselves in the cove.” 

A cold, wet wind blew in their faces, and the 
waves leaped over the rocks with terrific force, 
throwing showers of spray over their heads, and 
then receding with a crunching, grinding rattle of 
loose pebbles and stones. They could see nothing 
but the fog and the spray-crested waves, which re- 
sembled the open jaws of an angry animal showing 
fierce white teeth. Even the cliff from which they 
had descended was hidden. They climbed to the 
top of an immense rock, where the spray could not 


72 


RAINBOW GOLD 


reach them, and there they laughed at the furious 
waves dashing with wild roars against their fortress. 

Occasionally sea-gulls would swoop through the 
gloom and disappear with shrill cries, and far away 
they heard the mournful sound of a bell-buoy, 
ringing its seemingly eternal knell for the many 
who will lie in their coral graves “ until the sea gives 
up its dead.” 

Toni, with her arms extended, stood up and drew 
in deep breaths of the salty air. 

“ Oh, it’s wonderful! ” she cried. “ The magic 
of the sea ! I feel it ; it has won my love. My heart 
feels like a bird; it longs to fly through the mist with 
the gulls. Ooh ! look at that one ! ” she pointed to 
a wave whose curving height resembled the poise of 
a rearing horse. On it came, with a roaring growl, 
and threw itself upon the rock where they stood, in 
a frenzy of futile effort. Spray, shells, and pebbles 
were tossed high in the air and fell back, to be 
tossed again and again, the playthings of the 
waves. 

They sat there for a long time, fascinated by the 
spell of the sea, and exclaiming with shrill delight 
as the waves rolled in. Then Cecily shivered and 
complained of the cold. 

“ It must be time to go back,” she said, and began 
to climb down from their throne. 



“ O WIND OF THE SEA! TaKE A THOUGHT-MESSAGE FROM ME TO DaD ! 

Blow softly and whisper in his ears that I love him — 

I love him, and trust him! ” — Page 73, 




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HOBGOBLIN HALL 


73 


Toni stood for a moment with eyes closed. “ O 
wind of the sea! Take a thought-message from me 
to Dad! Blow softly and whisper in his ears that 
I love him — I love him, and trust him! ” 

When they returned to the house they found that 
Jim Trefethen had brought their trunks. 

“We must change our dresses and look as nice 
as we can when we go to see Grandfather,” observed 
Cecily, beginning to unpack at once. 

“ Sure-lee ! ” replied Toni. “ Here’s my brown 
velvet. Dad always liked me in that.” 

“ These rooms won’t look half bad when we get 
our little pictures and books scattered about,” called 
Basil from his room. 

Shortly before four o’clock they went down to the 
living-room, Cecily being the only one who was 
visibly nervous, though the others quaked inwardly 
over the impending interview. 

Cecily looked very pretty in her blue velvet dress, 
whose lustrous color seemed to deepen the shade of 
her eyes, and her plump cheeks were flushed with 
nervous excitement. 

When the clock struck four, Aunt Olivia ap- 
peared. “ You had better go — ^now, Cecily,” she 
said. “ The front hall — the second door at the — 
right is my brother’s — study.” 

She left them, and Cecily, with a wild, despair- 


74 RAINBOW GOLD 

ing look at the others, went the way her aunt had 
indicated. 

“ Let’s time her,” said Basil, looking at the clock. 

“ Into the jaws of death,” said Toni with a 
sepulchral voice. “ Why didn’t I make my will? 
I know I’ll never survive! If I do live through 
this, you’ll never hear me complain of having my 
picture taken or my teeth pulled! I’ll be blissful 
and contented, whatever my lot.” 

“ It’s confoundedly unpleasant, this being in- 
spected. The sight of my crutch will condemn me 
in Grandfather’s eyes, I know.” Basil gritted his 
teeth. 

“ Seventeen minutes ! ” announced Toni, as they 
heard their sister coming along the hall. 

“He’s awful!” gasped Cecily with tear-filled 
eyes. “ He’s a trute and a byrant — I mean a brute 
and a tyrant. I could scarcely speak, I was so 
frightened. He said you were to go next, Basil; 
for he couldn’t stand two girls in succession.” 

“ My turn next ! ” Basil gave the girls a queer 
little wistful smile and hobbled from the room. 

Cecily settled do^vn for a good cry, and Toni 
paced up and down the room. 

“ His wrath will accumulate with each interview, 
and I’ll get the worst of it. It’s simply awful to 
have long legs like mine when one is shaking with 


HOBGOBLIN HALL 75 

fear. My knees feel like loose hinges! I’m hol- 
low — I’m a mere shell. Why didn't I throw my- 
self to the hungry, devouring waves when I stood 
on that high rock? Oh, if I could lose my temper! 
I’m always brave when I lose my temper; but now 
I feel as meek and saintly as a whitewashed angel. 
I’m a wilted lily — drooping, sagging, on a broken 
stem! ” 


CHAPTER VI 
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS 

Twenty minutes had ticked away before they 
heard the soft tap of Basil’s rubber-shod crutch on 
the hall floor. When he entered the room he was 
no longer pale. There was an angry gleam in his 
eyes, which accounted for the glow on his usually 
white cheeks. 

“ M-mm-must I go now? ” wailed Toni. 

Basil nodded. “ I think I got the worst of it. I 
feel like a worm that’s been stepped on. It may be 
easy for you. Buck up, old girl! Don’t get 
flustered.” 

“ I can’t b-b-buck up. I feel like a melting 
snowflake. My tongue is swelling, my throat’s 
closing up, my heart’s exploding. I — I — I’m go- 
ing to bust! ” Toni rushed out of the room. 

“ What did he say to you? ” asked Cecily, wiping 
her eyes. 

“ Never mind what he said,” replied Basil, sink- 
ing into a chair. “ It’s the way he says things that 
hurts. His voice is like a knife — just like those 
76 


THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS 77 


slicing-machines they use in butcher-shops for 
cutting bacon. I feel as if my soul had been sliced 
to pieces.” 

Toni went towards her grandfather’s door. Her 
feet seemed weighted with lead, and she could al- 
most hear her heart thumping against her ribs. 
She raised her arm, intending to give a timid knock, 
but her hand came against the door with a resound- 
ing whack. She jumped back, aghast and trem- 
bling. There was a moment’s pause, pregnant with 
horror. A voice came from the room in cold, steely 
tones. 

“ Come in.” 

Toni entered. She felt as if she were engulfed 
by the roaring waves she had been watching, and 
with a horrible sinking sensation she struggled to- 
wards a figure she saw seated by the fire on the 
opposite side of the room. 

Suddenly she heard her own voice saying in 
cheerful accents: “ How do you do. Grandfather? 
I am so glad to know you at last ! ” 

This brought her to her senses, and she found 
herself shaking hands with an old man whose thin 
lips were curved with a peculiar smile; while a 
gleam of sardonic humor glittered in his piercing 
gray eyes. He pointed to a chair and she gladly 
sat down, for her knees were weakening again, and 


78 


RAINBOW GOLD 


the floor seemed to be rising up like a towering 
mountain and then sinking into an abysmal 
depth. 

He sat with his elbows resting on the arms of his 
chair, with the fingers of his right hand touching 
those of his left. His thin white face was smooth- 
shaven, and a protruding imder-lip gave it a sinister 
expression as he nodded his head slowly above the 
lattice-work of his long fingers. He wore a black 
velvet coat, and on his head was a black silk cap 
which fitted snugly over his thick white hair. His 
tall form seemed pitiably thin and shrunken as he 
sat in the large winged-chair; and Toni, meeting his 
gaze fearlessly, felt a little quiver of tender feeling 
in her heart towards the old man. 

“ He’s old, mean, and unhappy,” she thought. 
“No one apparently loves him. That is what’s the 
matter, though he doesn’t realize it.” 

“ So you are glad to know your grandfather? 
Your brother and sister didn’t seem to relish the 
opportunity of making my acquaintance.” His 
voice was tinged with a sneer. 

Toni started. “ To tell you the truth. Grand- 
father, I was so frightened when I entered the room 
that I didn’t know what I was saying. I wasn’t 
really glad to meet you then, but I believe I am 
now.” 


THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS 79 


“ To what may I attribute your change of feel- 
ing towards me? ” 

Their eyes met and flashed like sharp lances. 
Toni was no longer nervous. 

“ I like meeting strange people, — it is like read- 
ing new books ; and you look clever and interesting, 
Grandfather. Talking with you will be like turn- 
ing over the pages of a book I haven’t read. I find 
that people are just as interesting as books, don’t 
you. Grandfather? But I suppose you don’t care 
about people because you keep to yourself so much, 
which will make you all the more interesting to me. 
You will be different.” 

He reached to the table beside him for his pipe, 
and slowly filled it with choice tobacco from a curi- 
ous oriental jar. Toni’s quick eyes had seen the 
silver match-box just out of his reach. She sprang 
up and struck a match. 

“ Do let me light your pipe for you I I always 
did it for Dad.” 

She held the match over the bowl of his pipe, and 
he puffed until the tobacco ignited and sent forth 
a pleasant aroma. 

“ Thank you. Your name is ? ” he paused. 

She made a playful little curtsey. “Antoinette — 
but I am Toni, at your service.” 

“Antoinette I ” he repeated. The murmur came 


80 


RAINBOW GOLD 


through the curls of fragrant smoke, and the 
speaker glanced up at a thick brocaded curtain 
which hung on the wall above the fireplace. 
Through the rich green folds could be seen the out- 
line of a large frame enclosing a picture hidden be- 
hind the curtain. 

Toni, seeing his abstracted gaze, fell into a reverie 
as she looked into the glowing coals. The study 
began to gloom with the shadows of an early twi- 
light. Flames chased each other over the surface 
of the log and curled about the huge protruding 
knots. The spiral rings of smoke ascending from 
Mr. Hastings’s pipe fiuttered and faded away like 
little memory-ghosts, fantastic shapings of their 
thoughts as they sat in silence before the fire. 

“Well!” said a querulous voice. “Have you 
been suddenly struck dumb? Don’t sit there like a 
staring idiot! Say something! ” 

“Oh!” Toni jumped. “Say something? Oh, 
yes ! I — I — er — I have awfully long legs! ” 

She made this wild assertion with an air of solemn 
importance which she might have used in announc- 
ing that she was the Queen of Sheba. Her grand- 
father, enjoying her embarrassment, began to 
laugh. At first it was a peculiar sound, as if the 
laugh had grown rusty from disuse; but Toni soon 
made a duet of it with her rippling chuckles. Then 


THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS 81 


the fire added its crackle, and the log popped and 
sent a galaxy of sparks sky-rocketing up the chim- 
ney. Mr. Hastings’s laugh suddenly grew shy and 
retired into the shelter of a cough. 

“ Your information is exceedingly interesting,” 
he observed; “most delightful, refreshing, and 
really .remarkable. You must be a genius! ” 

“ Basil is the genius of our family,” began Toni. 
“ He plays the piano wonderfully. If he were only 
strong enough he’d be a Hoffmann or a Paderewski. 
Oh, you must hear him play ! ” 

“ Piano-playing, as I told Basil, is only fit for 
women and girls,” said Mr. Hastings, resuming his 
cold, incisive tones. “ Though I suppose it might 
be suitable for a cripple, who will never amount to 
anything.” 

“ How dare you speak like that? ” stormed Toni, 
rising to the full height of her long legs. 

“ Sit down, my dear child, or your head will 
bump the ceiling! Sit down,” he insisted. 

“ I don’t suppose you realized how cruel and 
heartless your words were; but you have no right to 
sneer at Basil’s misfortune. He didn’t choose to 
be a cripple.” 

“ Of course not, of course not ! Don’t let your 
temper splutter so, my little volcano. It’s a pity 
your brother and sister haven’t some of your fire. 


82 RAINBOW GOLD 

You could spare it. You seem to have an abomi- 
nable temper.” 

“ It’s the real Hastings temper, I am told.” 
She hurled this remark at him with an indignant 
toss of the head. 

“So? Well, I trust you will not place the Has- 
tings temper, as you call it, on exhibition at the 
Academy. You and Cecily are to begin your 
studies there next Monday. Cecily seems a cheer- 
ful little nonentity. How does it happen that you 
alone seem to have any spirit? Of course, Basil’s 
physical infirmity precludes him from sharing it, 
but Cecily might have acquired some of it, if only 
through having been forced to live with you.” He 
gave her a quizzical glance, half hoping to see an- 
other flash of temper. 

“ Humph! ” was Toni’s only reply. 

“ I see it will be impossible for Basil to go to the 
Academy,” mused Mr. Hastings aloud. “And he 
needs regular instruction badly. He appears to be 
a perfect idiot so far as mathematics are concerned. 
He will have to brush up, and I’ll have him taught 
bookkeeping. That is about the only career open 
to him, though I don’t suppose he will welcome the 
change from a piano-stool to a seat in an office. 
Remember, you will all have to earn your living 
some day, and I intend you to prepare for it now. 


THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS 83 


I will have no drones here. And don’t let your- 
selves be possessed with the idea that you will in- 
herit my money. John Hamilton’s children shall 
not have a penny of mine after my death. I shall 
leave my wealth to various charities.” 

“ That’s what uncharitable persons usually do,” 
responded Toni. “We don’t want your money; 
and we don’t care what you do with it. If you want 
to endow a college for cats or found a hospital for 
decrepit mosquitoes, it’s no affair of ours.” 

“Ah! I am glad to see that you are so reason- 
able. Now, if you want to be a stenographer and 
typist. I’ll send you to a business college after you 
are graduated from the Academy. Cecily informed 
me with a giggle that her spelling was weak, and 
that she thought she wouldn’t care to be a stenog- 
rapher. She would prefer to get married or go to 
Italy and study singing! She sings and Basil 
plays. What extraordinary talent have you to con- 
tribute to the honor of the Hastings family? ” 

“ I haven’t any talent. I’m just an ordinary 
person, being a true Hastings; but I can spell.” 

“ So? You can spell? Then I presume that 
stenography and typewriting appeal to you? ” he 
sneered. 

Toni gazed at him with half-closed eyes. “ If 
learning stenography and typewriting will enable 


84 


RAINBOW GOLD 


me to go away from here and earn my living, I will 
gladly accept your offer to send me to a business 
college. I am only sorry that I have to wait until 
I am through the Academy. I hate to be depend- 
ent on you ! ” 

Her words were uttered with a cold deliberation, 
and she tmconsciously imitated her grandfather’s 
tones, so that the resemblance between the girlish 
voice and that of the old man would have been 
startling to the ears of a listener, had there been 
one. 

Mr. Hastings, looking at her cold, set face, was 
possessed with an unholy desire to see her passion 
flame up again. With the cunning of a spider 
torturing a fly, he seized upon an idea which was 
heartless and cruel. 

“ You understand that you are to be known by 
the name of Hastings? ” 

Toni nodded with compressed lips. 

The taunting voice went on: “No matter how 
proficient a girl becomes as a stenographer, she 
would find it extremely difficult to secure a position 
if it were kno'wn that she was the daughter of a 
thief.” 

Silence! The fire in the grate had ceased flam- 
ing, and the log was a glowing mass of coals. Toni 
stood up and faced her grandfather. He did not 


THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS 85 


see the flare of impotent fury, as he had hoped. 
She was cahn, unnaturally so. 

“ You are a cruel, wicked old man! ” she hissed 
between her teeth. “ No wonder no one loves you! 
Whatever you and the world may think, I know 
my father is not a thief. I trust him. But even if 
he were dishonest, I should love him with a love, a 
loyalty, that you have never been able to gain from 
any one. I’m proud of my father.” 

There was a momentary break in her voice as she 
continued: “ I love my father, and I won’t allow 
you to call him a thief. He is the victim of some 
awful mistake; but it must be cleared away and ex- 
plained some day. I know it will! What a hide- 
ous, mean, twisted soul you must have when it 
prompts you to use my sorrow as a means of tortur- 
ing me! Why are you pitting yourself against 
me? I am only a girl! And you have lived all 
these years in the world without having learned to 
be kind! ” 

The glow of the coals died away slowly, like fad- 
ing rose-petals. 

“ I almost believe I am sorry for you, so I can’t 
really hate you as I want to do. No, I won’t hate 
you, for hatred soils the soul. But if you torture 
me too much, you old Spanish Inquisitioner, I’ll 
runaway! ” 


86 


RAINBOW GOLD 


She stumbled over to the door, and, opening it, 
turned and fired her parting shot. “ I’ll run away I 
And — I have awfully long legs ! ” 

The door closed with a bang. One by one, the 
dead coals dropped through the bars of the grate. 

The lonely old man sat in the deepening dusk, 
silent and thoughtful. The burning tobacco in his 
pipe gleamed and faded, and gleamed again. 
Fluttering memories leaped up in his mind, glowed 
for a moment, and died away. 

He looked up to the curtain over the fireplace. 
“Antoinette!” he murmured; and by the mystic 
illusion of imagination he saw the picture which had 
been concealed by the curtains for many years. It 
was a portrait of his wife, the French Antoinette of 
long ago, who, despite her wondrous beauty, was 
strangely like the gawky, brown elf, Toni — the 
third Antoinette to defy him. 

He rose with a slight shiver and shook the to- 
bacco ashes from his pipe into the grate. Aunt 
Olivia knocked at the door and timidly announced 
that supper was ready. 



“I SHOULD LOVE HIM WITH A LOVE, A LOYALTY, THAT YOU HAVE 
NEVER BEEN ABLE TO GAIN FROM ANY ONE. I*M PROUD 
OF MY FATHER.” — Page 85. 


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CHAPTER VII 

A BAINBOW OF FAITH AND A HEABT OF GOLD 

It was a charming old gentleman who sat at the 
head of the table and dispensed the regulation Sat- 
urday supper-dish in Maine — ^pork and beans. 
Pork and beans cooked in the good old-fashioned 
New England way! What a steaming, savory joy 
they are, after a day of cold rain and dreary fog, 
when the waves and the wind are warring outside 
against the rocky battlements of the Maine coast! 
When pork and beans are combined with the 
cylindrical loaves of Boston brown-bread, one must, 
perforce, think of Oliver Twist’s immortal request. 

The children were bewildered at the change in 
their grandfather, as they listened to his conversa- 
tion, which was courteous and affable, and con- 
tained no hint of the sneering sarcasm he had shown 
them during the unfortunate interviews which Toni 
had recorded in her memory as “ The Battle of 
Hastings.” He was now exceedingly punctilious 
with her, though she was not as responsive as the 
others to his friendly overtures. Aunt Olivia 
talked but little, in her peculiar disjointed way. 

87 


88 


RAINBOW GOLD 


Several times during the meal Toni, who sat at 
Mr. Hastings’s right, reached out with her long leg 
under the table and tapped Cecily’s toe. Cecily sat 
exactly opposite, and it was an easy feat for Toni’s 
lanky leg to reach across. 

Some years before, when they were taught by a 
governess at home, they had established a secret 
code of communication during lessons by a system 
of toe-tapping. Toni, in her surprise over her 
grandfather’s friendly attitude towards them, now 
began to converse with her sister in the old way. 
They had not used the system for a long time, and 
Cecily had evidently forgotten some of the signals, 
for her taps and pressures were somewhat irregular. 
Sometimes she used just a little more weight than 
was necessary. Indeed, once she kept her foot 
pressed on Toni’s and held it in painful imprison- 
ment for several minutes. Toni winced, but Cecily 
went on calmly eating brown-bread; and when 
Toni, after sundry squirms and coughs succeeded 
in catching her eye, Cecily gazed back at her im- 
ploring face in puzzled amazement. At last the 
poor foot was released and Toni withdrew it to the 
shelter of her chair. 

Just as they rose from the table, Mr. Hastings 
turned to her with a courtly air. “ It was exceed- 
ingly gracious of you, Toni, to initiate me into the 


A RAINBOW OF FAITH 


89 


mysteries of your under-the-table method of com- 
munication. I am sure I shall find it very interest- 
ing when you have been kind enough to enlighten 
me as to the meaning of the code.” 

Toni stared, wide-eyed, with horrified astonish- 
ment. “ W-w-was it you? ” 

Her grandfather bowed. Toni felt herself 
shrinking into the size of the last lonely bean left 
on her plate ; and she stood speechless as Mr. Has- 
tings left the room. 

“ My sister — would like — to see — ^you before you 
go — up-stairs,” Aunt Olivia informed them. 

They went at once to Aunt Priscilla’s room, 
which was warmed and brightened by a cheerful 
fire. Under the glow of the flames and the 
shaded reading-lamp, the gray room did not seem 
so dismal. 

Mrs. Omar was on the table near Aunt Priscilla’s 
chair, calmly reposing on an open magazine which 
Miss Priscilla had been reading before Delia 
brought in her supper tray. There was a half- 
perused article in the magazine which the invalid 
was anxious to finish; but she had not the heart to 
disturb the beautiful animal, and continued to sit 
in silence, listening to the purring music of Mrs. 
Omar’s slumber song. 

It was a long, long time since anything or any- 


90 


RAINBOW GOLD 


body had shown a preference for Miss Priscilla, as 
Mrs. Omar had done that morning; and Miss Pris- 
cilla rather liked it. 

The children did not stay in the room long. Mrs. 
Omar roused herself and made them welcome by 
rubbing against their legs. Aunt Priscilla scarcely 
spoke, beyond adding “ Humphs ” to their re- 
marks. 

“ I’m so glad that you like Mrs. Omar, Aunt 
Priscilla,” said Toni. 

“ Humph! ” was the response as the cat jumped 
up to her lap. “ Leave her here with me — safe 
here.” 

When they left. Aunt Priscilla resumed her read- 
ing, and a short time afterwards she laid down her 
magazine. Mrs. Omar looked up with shining 
green eyes. 

“ I believe I could like those children,” observed 
the Gray Lady. “ Humph! ” 

“ Hurr-urr-umphrrrr ! ” answered Mrs. Omar, 
and she hid the gleam of her right eye with a wink 
of wise understanding. 

Unaccustomed to the sound of the sea, the chil- 
dren slept fitfully that night. 

“ The ocean sounds like a roaring dragon coming 
to devour us,” shuddered Cecily. 

“ I’ll be St. George and rescue you, fair 


A RAINBOW OF FAITH 91 

maidens,” called out Basil through the connecting 
door, which had been left open. 

“ The waves seem to be crawling nearer and 
nearer. I am sure we shall be washed away and 
float over the sea like three cakes of Ivory soap,” 
Toni murmured sleepily, and she snuggled under 
the thick, gray, homespun blankets. 

She was the first to waken the next morning. 
With a little cry of joy, she sprang out of bed and 
ran over to the window. 

“ Oh, the sun is shining, and the ocean is blue, the 
most wonderful greeny-blue, shimmering in the 
sunlight ! And there are islands, evergreen 
islands — two of them. The sky is the bluest blue 
you ever saw. Oh, wonderful ! ” 

Cecily and Toni accompanied Aunt Olivia to 
church, the little gray stone building they had 
passed the day before on their way from the station. 
The churchyard was enclosed with a brown picket- 
fence, and sloped down to the shore. 

“ What a peaceful place for the dead ! ” thought 
Toni, as they passed along the path which took a 
winding course among the graves to the church- 
door. 

There was a beautiful charm about the simple 
edifice. Over the altar was a stained-glass window 
which had been brought from Italy and given to the 


92 


RAINBOW GOLD 


church by Toni’s grandfather. The other windows 
were cheap, but their leaded panes were of frosted 
glass, with simple borders of soft, neutral greens, 
browns, and dull rose. The walls were finished 
with a rough plaster of ecru, and the heavy beams 
and panelings were stained dark brown. 

Toni soon lost herself under the spell of the 
service. The mysterious murmur of the sea reached 
her ears and seemed like whispers of the dead out- 
side, as though they were taking part in the re- 
sponses. 

In the afternoon Cecily and Basil looked over 
some of Aunt Priscilla’s magazines. Toni went 
along the shore with a thick rug and ensconced her- 
self in a sheltered corner among the rocks. With a 
writing-pad propped on her knees, she wrote to 
her father. 


By the Sea. 

My deakest of all deae Daddies: 

Behold your Toni seated on the coast of 
Maine, with waves rolling in and almost touching 
her toes! And funny crawling things all around, 
shells, crabs, clams, lobsters, whales, and sea- 
serpents! And there are rocks everywhere, great 
towers and castles. Oh, it is wonderful! 

There’s the ocean, all crinkly with waves that are 
dancing and showing their white-frilled petticoats, 
kicking their spray-laces high in the air. One wave 


A RAINBOW OF FAITH 93 

has just left a piece of lace near me, — a little 
curved line of bubbles and froth. 

Far over the sea sail-boats skim along, some ’with 
sails of gleaming white, and others with gray, 
brown, yellow, and queer pink. Sea-gulls are fly- 
ing about, like scraps of paper scattered by the 
wind. 

Then there’s the sky — blue, blue, blue I Great 
billowy masses of clouds pile themselves up like 
snowy Alps, and then they dissolve and float away 
in wisps of torn gossamer. 

There’s the wind. What a giant fellow he is! 
He is trying to pick me up and carry me off to his 
wild home in the far, white North. If only he 
would carry me to you, my dear old Daddy, I 
should let him take me in his arms and drift with 
the broken clouds to the place where I have left 
my heart. 

Now that I have met Grandfather, I recognize 
myself as all Hastings. I see where my awful 
temper comes from. He is odd and queer, but I 
believe I could like him a little. I’m odd and queer 
myself. Anyway, I’m going to try, though I know 
it will be a struggle. Except for a regular morn- 
ing and afternoon stroll in the garden, he spends 
all his time in his study, a wonder-room filled with 
antiques and books and treasures from far-away 
lands and times. He is writing some sawdusty, 
ponderous book on “Ancient Religions of the 
World,” so Aunt Priscilla says. 

Aunt Priscilla is peculiar. Her conversation 
bristles with “ Humphs.” What an expressive 
word “Humph” is! I have adopted it for fre- 


94 


RAIXBOW GOLD 


quent use when I collide with Grandfather. One 
can pour forth a torrent of scorn in a “ Humph.” 
And again, it can be a contemptuous puff of uncon- 
cern. 

But, to return to Aunt Priscilla. She has taken 
Mrs. Omar under her protection, which is fortimate 
for our “ harmless, necessar}’^ cat,” as Grandfather 
hates all feline creatures — women being included in 
that category. ^Irs. Omar has fallen ^dolently in 
love with Aunt Priscilla, thus proving that there 
is something very good imder Aunt Priscilla’s out- 
side prickles. I think I’U call her “Aunt Prix.” 

Aunt Olivia is like an old letter written with 
faded ink. I am going to try to decipher the vTit- 
ing, but it is pale and dim ; and there doesn’t seem to 
be one legible word to use as a clue. 

Now for Delia, the woman who does the work! 
Delightful Delia, Delia the Doleful, Delia the 
Dumb! I haven’t heard her utter a word since 
we came into the house. She is a wonder! Every- 
thing here seems to have run to gray: curtains, 
cushions, carpets, walls, floors, ceilings, mirrors, 
people, and life. But Delia, in silent rebellion 
against the prevailing color of things, flaunts ban- 
ners (meaning her clothes) that are dazzling in 
their bewildering radiance. Delia’s Dresses are a 
Dream! (Wouldn’t that make a good title for a 
comic song?) 

Delia has three eyebrows ; but as she has only two 
eyes, the third eyebrow has very obligingly con- 
descended to adorn her upper lip. The two above 
have almost succeeded in making both ends meet — 
over her nose. 


A RAINBOW OF FAITH 


95 


Delia’s father is Grandfather’s chore-boy. He 
has worked on the place since he was twelve; but he 
is still The Boy. His real name is Csesar Silas 
Hupper. Most of his hair is off the top of his 
head, and has apparently wandered down to his 
chin, where it flourishes in a beard that is like a 
grizzly cataract. He speaks as if each word 
weighed a ton, and he is as solemn as a tombstone. 

Every one here seems to be old. By next month 
I shall probably be a centenarian myself. 

O Daddy dear! here I am rattling away at all 
sorts of nonsense and I haven’t said what I want to 
say most of all: I believe in you, love you, always! 
I know you are innocent. Dad! Nothing can ever 
make me lose faith in you. 

Life is full of snarls and worries now. The 
future seems like a tangled skein of to-morrows. 
Perhaps, Daddy dear, if we keep on loving and 
hoping and doing our best, we shall be able to 
unravel the tangled threads and everything will be 
set right. I am going to hope for that. 

Let my faith in you brighten the dark clouds of 
your life with rainbow glory. At the end of faith’s 
rainbow is a heart of gold — Rainbow Gold, the 
love of 


Toni. 


CHAPTER VIII 

ALEXANDER THE GREAT 

The next day Cecily and Toni went to the 
Academy, and after an interview with Mr. Gifford, 
the principal, they were assigned to their classes. 

For a town the size of Peacedale the Academy 
was a remarkable school. Many of its scholars 
came from outlying farms and neighboring villages. 
At this time the Academy was fortunate in having 
John Gifford as principal. Young, enthusiastic, 
and clever, he spurred his students on to eager 
effort; and his assistant teachers, catching his 
enthusiasm, willingly laid aside their obsolete 
methods. Thus the Academy was completely rev- 
olutionized and became known as one of the best 
preparatory schools in the State. 

The two girls soon adapted themselves to the 
everyday life at their grandfather’s house. At- 
tending school every day, and their study-hours at 
home, gave them little free time. 

For a few days Basil moped by himself. The 
boy was lost without a piano, for he was accustomed 
to spending many hours in practising each day. 

96 


ALEXANDER THE GREAT 


97 


He did some composing, but became discouraged, 
and one morning he threw his manuscripts into the 
fire with a muttered, “ What’s the use? ” 

It was a beautiful day, with a warm glow in the 
air, as if the sun had forgotten that summer was 
over. Poor Basil longed to go out along the beach, 
but his infirmity kept him a prisoner within the 
garden. 

“ If I could only see Mrs. Omar,” he thought. 
“ I’ll go and call on her, even if Aunt Priscilla does 
bite my head off.” 

He crossed the hall from the living-room and 
knocked gently on Aunt Priscilla’s door. 

“ Come in,” called his aunt. 

He obeyed and closed the door behind him. 

“Humph! It’s good to see that some one is 
alive ! ” 

“ That’s how I feel, Aunt Priscilla. I haven’t 
spoken to a soul since breakfast. May I stay with 
you for a while? ” 

“Humph! Stay if you like; but talk, talk, 
talk!^* 

Basil talked. Aunt Priscilla leaned back in her 
chair with closed eyes, but her “ Humphs ” showed 
that she was following the conversation with inter- 
est. Basil told about his home in the South, and 
mentioned Jean. 


98 


RAINBOW GOLD 


“ Humph! Scotch — smart woman! ” 

“ She told us all about the fire in your room when 
Mother ran off with Dad,” laughed the boy. 

“ Humph ! Rug burnt I ” she pointed to a large 
mended place in the rug. 

Then Basil spoke of his music, and what a trial 
it was to be without a piano. 

“Humph! Piano! I haven’t heard one since 
your grandmother left. She played; but your 
grandfather would never let Anneite, your mother, 
study music.” 

“ I wish I had a chance to practise, if only for an 
hour a day.” 

“ The piano is up-stairs in the French Antoi- 
nette’s room. ’Toinette, she was called.” 

“ Mrs. Omar used to love my practising, didn’t 
you, old girl? ” he said, caressing Mrs. Omar under 
the chin. “ She always sat on the piano while I 
practised.” 

“Humph! Ask my brother to let you use 
’Toinette’s piano. It will be good to hear it again, 
if he will consent. Humph ! Out of tune though.” 

Basil sighed. “ Grandfather doesn’t like me. 
He would be sure to refuse. So it’s really no use 
asking him.” 

“Humph! I’ll ask him. I’ll send for him to- 
night. We haven’t met for weeks. We always dis- 


ALEXANDER THE GREAT 


99 


agree. Perhaps the joy of seeing me to-night may 
induce him to be pleasant for a change. Humph! ” 
“ Oh! Aunt Priscilla, will you really ask him? ” 

“ Humph! Yes, I’ll try it. Don’t hope for too 
much.” 

“ Grandmother died in France, didn’t she? ” 
“Yes, she couldn’t stand the life here in this 
bleak place. To bring her here was like expecting 
a rose to grow at the North Pole. She was very 
beautiful. Poor little ’Toinette ! Humph! When 
your mother was six years old, ’Toinette packed 
her things and went away, leaving her husband and 
child. Your grandfather didn’t understand her. 
He tried to put his butterfly in chains, and she flew 
away. She died very soon. Poor little ’Toinette ! 
Humph!” 

“ Did Grandfather mind her going away? ” 

“ It broke his heart. He had one in those days, 
though he didn’t show it. Then he worshiped your 
mother. All the love he had felt for his wife was 
lavished on his child. He idolized her ; but he was 
harsh and severe, so that she couldn’t stand it 
either. He wanted to shape her young life accord- 
ing to his cast-iron ideas. So Annette left, too.” 

“And she was very happy,” added Basil. “ She 
was sweet and jolly, just like a girl, until she died 
four years ago.” 


100 


RAINBOW GOLD 


“ I saw your father. Humph 1 Liked him! If 
Annette had stayed here, she would have faded 
away without having known any joy in her life. 
See how Olivia and I have run to seed 1 Humph ! ” 
That night, after supper, Mr. Hastings went to 
his sister’s room. The interview did not last long, 
and apparently bore no fruit, for nothing was said 
about Basil’s using the piano up-stairs. For sev- 
eral days Mr. Hastings was more irascible than 
ever. At the table no one spoke, for he snarled like 
an angry dog if any one ventured to make a re- 
mark ; and the meals passed in dreary silence. Even 
Toni’s spirits were crushed. 

Basil wasted sheets and sheets of music manu- 
script-paper composing dirges, requiems, and 
funeral-marches, which found an ignominious tomb 
in the waste-paper basket. 

Cecily was fortunate in having formed a girlish 
attachment with Kathryn Lindsay, a girl at the 
Academy. Life assumed a cheerful aspect for her, 
because she spent most of her spare time at the 
rectory, which was Kathryn’s home, a happy-go- 
lucky place where every one was jolly and gay. 
They read and studied together, and this com- 
panionship helped Cecily to throw off the gloomy 
influence of the Hastings home. 

Aunt Olivia went about the house in her slow. 


ALEXANDER THE GREAT 101 


quiet way, looking like a Niobe whose tears had all 
been exhausted, but whose griefs were still un- 
assuaged. 

Delia the Dumb maintained her taciturnity and 
her brilliancy of apparel. Her appearance was 
an unceasing delight to the children. 

Aunt Priscilla caught a bad cold, and they didn’t 
visit her room for a few days ; but when Basil heard 
that her eyes were affected, he went to her door and 
asked if he might read aloud to her. She gladly 
accepted his offer, for she was a voracious reader, 
and it was hard for her to be denied this one joy of 
her lonely existence. She had strained her eyes 
with incessant reading, and she welcomed Basil’s 
suggestion with real delight, which was expressed 
in a couple of “ Humphs ” and a nod. 

Basil had a good voice and read extremely well; 
and this was the beginning of many pleasant hours 
they spent together during the long Maine winter. 
The plan worked well both ways. It relieved Aunt 
Priscilla’s eyes and was a mental benefit to Basil. 
She had a keen, alert mind, and she would discuss 
everything with the boy in a way which was both 
interesting and instructive. They became great 
friends, and the brusque, lonely woman soon learned 
to love the delicate boy, and eagerly awaited his 
coming every afternoon. 


102 


RAINBOW GOLD 


Jim Trefethen came over with his cart and Polly 
Feemus one afternoon and drove the three children 
down to his cottage to have supper with Ma. 

She welcomed them at the door of the cozy home. 
Impulsive Toni threw her arms about the sweet 
little woman whose right cheek was terribly marked 
with a bright red scar. Her beautiful white hair 
was drawn low over her forehead, and two curls 
hung before her ears and partly concealed the cruel 
marks. Ma’s voice was soft and low, and her gray 
eyes beamed with kindness and good-will. 

“ Mrs. Trefethen, I’m so glad to meet you 1 ” 
cried Toni. 

“ Now, don’t say Mrs. Trefethen,” broke in Jim. 
“ Ma’s Ma; and I’m Jim. There’s no Mr. or Mrs. 
about us.” 

After taking off their coats and hats in a low- 
ceilinged bedroom, the girls followed Ma to the 
parlor across the hall. There they found Basil and 
Jim with a tall boy of sixteen, whom Jim intro- 
duced as Alexander Meredith, adding that some 
day he would be known as Alexander the Great. 

Alexander rose awkwardly and bowed to Cecily, 
bashfully holding out and withdrawing his large 
hand, not Imowing whether he ought to shake hands 
with this dainty maiden or not. With a vivid blush 
that outrivaled the color of his hair, he grasped 


ALEXANDER THE GREAT 103 


courage and Cecily’s hand at the same time, making 
the girl wince with his vehemence, and then dropped 
the little hand as if he had been burnt. 

Toni, pitying the lad’s embarrassment, gave him 
a friendly grasp before he had time to hesitate about 
repeating the formality with her. 

“ I think you should be called ‘Alexander the 
Great ’ now,” she said with a flashing smile. “For 
you have conquered all the classes at the Academy. 
I watch your daily victories in mathematics with 
envy.” 

“ Oh, maths, are easy enough,” replied the boy. 

Ma and Jim left the young people in the parlor; 
and Toni, in her bright, eager way, soon put Alex- 
ander at ease as they all chatted over their lessons 
and the school library which Mr. Gifford was seek- 
ing to establish for the benefit of the Academy. 

It was a quaint little room. The floor was cov- 
ered with a rag carpet whose cotton warp of yellow, 
red, and green formed vague stripes against the 
motley of the rags. The walls were kalsomined a 
pale yellow, and several pictures, enlargements of 
old-fashioned photographs, in hideous, ornate 
frames, with an inside border of plush, were hung 
with stiff regularity. The furniture was of slip- 
pery black horsehair. An oval table, marble- 
topped, held the lamp which lighted the room, and a 


104 


RAINBOW GOLD 


large Bible. An organ, with gospel hymn-books 
resting on its ledge, stood at one end. At the other 
end was Jim’s “ Home University,” a set of shelves 
filled with uniform volumes bound in dark red. 
Looking like a growth of mushrooms on the top of 
the shelves, was a row of small plaster busts of 
famous men. Julius Csesar gazed blankly into the 
face of Longfellow; Shakespeare rubbed shoulders 
with Dickens; and Abraham Lincoln turned his 
back on Bismarck. 

Toni learned afterwards that these busts had 
been obtained with coupons from the wrappings of 
a certain kitchen-soap. A small, round table, sup- 
ported by one slender leg with three feet, held a 
miniature crystal palace which housed and pro- 
tected a marvelous growth of wax flowers. A large 
pot of ivy stood near one window, and, after climb- 
ing up to the ceiling, the glossy vine had wandered 
along the walls, forming a beautiful frieze of dark 
green leaves. 

When they went to the dining-room in response 
to Jim’s call, Toni unconsciously detached a tidy 
from the chair she had been occupying, and carried 
it with her, dangling from a button of her dress. 

The walls of the dining-room were covered with 
a paper showing a design of blue trellis intertwined 
with red roses. At the windows were shelves filled 


ALEXANDER THE GREAT 105 


with blossoming plants, — geraniums, fuchsias laden 
with floral tassels, and calla lilies whose blooms un- 
furled on their long stems like white banners. 

Several pictures hung on the walls. The most 
conspicuous one was a large chromo representing a 
dashing damsel in pink. This brilliant affair did 
double duty as a calendar and an advertisement for 
a well-known brand of cigars. The pink lady ogled 
and held out a cigar in the direction of Abraham 
Lincoln, who hung near-by. On the opposite wall 
a half-drowned maiden clung to a stone cross rising 
out of a raging sea; and a few feet away, a pictured 
angel carried a fat, wakeful child towards a starry 
sky. 

A motto, worked with worsted on perforated 
cardboard, hung over one door, and asked, in greens 
and yellows, “ What is Home Without a Mother? ” 
Another motto over the door leading into the 
kitchen replied irrelevantly in pinks and blues, 
“ Eat, Drink, and be Merry,” which behest the 
supper-table seemed to emphasize, for it was laden 
with tempting viands which bore out Jim’s asser- 
tion that Ma was the best cook in the State of 
Maine. 

Two plump chickens had been sacrificed for the 
feast. They were accompanied with a Mont Blanc 
of mashed potatoes, a pyramid of turnips fluted 


106 


RAINBOW COLD 


with a fork, a quivering monument of red-currant 
jelly, and a pool of brown gravy steaming in a dish 
shaped and colored like a mammoth tomato. 

“ Ummm! it is good not to see or smell a fish! ” 
cried Cecily when they were all seated. 

“We have so much fish at home,” Toni explained 
to Ma, “ that I expect to turn into a mermaid; and 
I fear the Atlantic Ocean will be forced to retire 
from the fish business, for we shall soon exhaust 
its supply.” 

“ Caesar Silas has pretty good luck at fishing,” 
observed Jim. “ So I suppose you do mostly have 
what you might call official dinners at your place.” 

“ His luck never fails,” laughed Basil. “ And 
we have fish nearly every day. When Toni turns 
into a mermaid I shall probably be a codfish I ” 

“ Fish is supposed to be good brain-food,” said 
Ma. 

“ Well, I’ve yet to hear of a fishing district that 
ever produced a brainy man,” rejoined Jim. 
“ Here, Alexander, have some more chicken. It’ll 
make your hair curl ! ” 

Alexander blushed and passed his plate. Toni 
then followed his example without any urging from 
Jim. 

“ How’s Aurora Libby’s whooping-cough, Ma? ” 
asked Jim as he carved. 


ALEXANDER THE GREAT 107 


“A little better to-day,” was the response. 

Jim turned to the others. “ The Libbys live in 
that brown house along the road. Aurora is two 
years old. She’s some roarer, is Aurora, and she 
brings the morn all right. Hasn’t failed once since 
she was born. She greets the morn with a roar long 
before the roosters think o’ crowing.” 

“ I wish you could stay all night, Alexander. I 
hate to think of your going back so late,” said Ma 
with a kind glance at the boy. 

“ It’s very good of you, but I must do some chores 
to-night after I get back ; and I have to start out to 
Portland with a load of potatoes at four-thirty to- 
morrow ^morning,” Alexander replied slowly, and 
his honest face flushed with bashfulness and grati- 
tude. 

“ Do you live far from here? ” asked Toni. 

“About four miles.” 

“And do you walk into school and back every 
day? ” cried Cecily. 

Alexander nodded, “ Yes.” 

As he wielded his knife and fork his rough coat- 
sleeves slipped up and disclosed the worn cuffs of 
his shirt, and his thin wrists, which seemed almost 
too small for his awkward hands. One of his cuffs 
was fastened with a brass safety-pin; and when he 
was aware that this makeshift was visible to the 


108 


RAINBOW GOLD 


others, the boy hastily dropped his fork, and, with 
his hands hidden in his lap, tried to pull the re- 
fractory coat-sleeves down. 

Jim talked incessantly, giving stray bits of news 
about Peacedale people. 

“ Jim,” said Ma in her soft tones, smiling over 
the table, “ if Polly Feemus had half the speed o’ 
your tongue, she’d beat all the race-horses in the 
country.” 

“You’re right there, Mai” agreed Jim as he 
passed his plate for a second piece of pumpkin pie. 
“ But I guess Steve Fly’s wife would beat me at 
tongue-wagging, in speed and endurance.” 

“ Fly? Is her name really Fly? ” said Cecily. 
“ How funny ! ” 

“ Fly’s her name, and she deserves it. Steve, 
he’s a big, meek giant, with a voice like the squeak 
of a mouse; but she goes round buzzing like an army 
o’ blue-bottle flies. There’s nothing that woman 
doesn’t buzz into, and she carries gossip round as 
a fly does germs. On the days that she goes out 
calling there’s an epidemic o’ bad feeling in the 
town. I sometimes think that if the old-time duck- 
ing o’ witches could be revived, it’d be a good thing. 
And by gum! I’d just like to see that woman 
ducked into Chandler’s Pond!” 

“ Now, Jim,” remonstrated Ma, “ who’s carrying 


ALEXANDER THE GREAT 109 


a germ of gossip now? Seems to me as if you’d 
caught some o’ Mandy Fly’s buzzing.” 

“ By gum I You’re right, Mai I’ll quit after 
one more buzz. I met Dr. Whithrop this after- 
noon. He says that Hurry-up Simpson is 
dead.” 

Jim turned to Toni. “ Hurry-up Simpson has 
been dying for the last three years. He was the 
slowest man in the state. He wam’t no talker 
like me; he was ’most too lazy to talk. The only 
thing he was ever heard to say with any real feel- 
ing was, ‘ There’s no hurry.’ That’s how he got the 
name o’ Hurry-up Simpson. He was slow in 
living and slow in dying. And — ^will you believe it, 
Ma? — ^Dr. Winthrop says his last words were, 
‘ There’s no hurry I ’ It ought to be engraved on 
his tombstone. And, by gum, I bet that when 
Gabriel blows his trumpet on the day o’ Judgment, 
Hurry-up will turn over in his grave and say, 
‘ There’s no hurry.’ ” 

Alexander had to rush off when supper was over; 
and Jim took Cecily and Basil to the parlor to show 
them his “ Home University.” Toni insisted on 
helping Ma “ do the dishes.” 

In the bright warm kitchen, which was the pink 
of neatness, with pots and pans shining like silver, 
and sturdy geraniums blooming in the white-cur- 


110 RAINBOW GOLD 

tained windows, Toni listened to the story of Alex- 
ander. 

“ He’s been an orphan since he was ten,” began 
Ma. “ Both his parents were school-teachers, and 
his father died when the boy was a year old. His 
mother, a delicate young thing, went on teaching in 
a district school up-state; and six years ago she 
died. For a while Alexander was kept by the 
neighbors, and then he was sent to J oe Barber, who 
needed a boy to help with the chores. He’s been 
there ever since, and he really does the work of two 
men, so he can get a chance to come to the 
Academy.” 

He doesn’t look very strong,” remarked Toni. 

“ No. Every morning he is up at half -past four, 
does the milking, chops wood, tends to the stock, 
and then walks in to school, studying as he comes 
along the road, if it’s light enough. Then when 
he goes back in the afternoon there’s more work and 
chores, and the evening milking. In the summer 
he’s the best farm-hand ever kno’wn. There’s noth- 
ing that boy doesn’t do. And he’s the best scholar 
the Academy ever had. Mr. Gifford wants him 
to try for a scholarship in some big college; and if 
he only had more time to study, he’d be sure to win.” 

“ What a terrible existence ! ” cried Toni. “ He’s 
wonderfully clever in everything.” 


ALEXANDER THE GREAT 111 


“ There’s never a word of grumbling or complaint 
from Alexander. But I’m kind of worried about 
him these days. He seems to be outgrowing his 
streng-th as well as his clothes. He works too hard, 
and studies too much, and he doesn’t get enough 
sleep for a growing boy. And I know the food out 
at Barber’s isn’t good: pork and griddle-cakes 
mostly. Jim and I have him here as often as we 
dare ask him ; but Alexander is shy and proud, and 
it isn’t easy to do things for him. It would hurt 
him to feel that we noticed, and were trying to 
help him. So, whenever Jim invites him over to 
supper, he always asks him to explain something in 
the University books. Poor Alexander needs 
friends. The young folks here don’t pay much at- 
tention to him. He’s poor and shabby and quiet. 
And then he’s so shy that they make fun of him. 
If you could be a bit friendly with him, Toni, it 
would mean a great deal.” 

“Be friendly with him? Indeed I will!” cried 
Toni. 

So a little sunshine came into Alexander’s sordid 
existence. He had to pass the Hastings place on 
his way to school, and Cecily and Toni formed the 
habit of walking in with him from their gate. 

“ I’m going to call you Lex, instead of Alex- 
ander,” said Toni the third time they walked 


112 RAINBOW GOLD 

together. “ It sounds more chummy and 
friendly.” 

“ I should be glad if you would,” replied the boy, 
as he added her books and Cecily’s to his own. 
“ That was Mother’s name for me.” 

“And you must call me Toni,” she continued, 
“ for we are friends, good friends, you know.” 

“ And don’t forget that my name is Cecily, and 
I’m to be another friend! ” 

“ Thank you, Toni, and — Cecily.” 

Ma was right when she said that Alexander 
needed friends. The pupils at the Academy had 
kept aloof from him more through heedlessness than 
actual unkindness ; and he was too sensitive to make 
any friendly overtures himself. There was no 
lingering after school-hours with the many girls and 
boys. He always had to rush back to the farm. 
The girls looked askance at his shabby clothes, and 
the boys made fun of his awkwardness and used to 
play tricks on him for the sake of adding to his 
embarrassment. So he avoided the tittering girls 
and teasing boys, some of whom were jealous of his 
proficiency in the classes. 

When Cecily and Toni showed their liking for 
Lex the scholars were astounded. That the grand- 
daughters of the richest man in the community 
should be friendly with this poor, shabby farmer- 


ALEXANDER THE GREAT 113 


bo}^ who had been the butt of their ridicule for 
years, was an incredible surprise to them. Cecily 
and Toni never seemed to notice that Lex’s 
trousers were separated from the tops of his coarse, 
patched shoes by an inch of gray hose; or that his 
blue sweater was crudely darned with yellow; or 
that his overcoat was green with age. 

Toni had always had a boy chum, and now Lex 
was beginning to take the place of Jimmie Blake. 
Cecily, who had the kindest, sweetest heart in the 
world, was ready to follow Toni’s lead; and she 
admired the friendless boy for his undoubted clever- 
ness and the innate courtesy which underlay his 
bashful diffidence. 

“By gum, Ma!” exclaimed Jim one evening. 
“ It just does my heart good to see Alexander walk- 
ing from the Academy with those two girls. And 
it’s doing him good, too. I’m glad they came 
to Peacedale. Alexander has brains and am- 
bition. Now he has young friends, and he’ll 
win ! ” 

One Tuesday night, when Mr. Hastings left the 
dining-room, Toni followed him into the hall. 

“ May I visit you in your study for a few min- 
utes, Grandfather? ” 

He nodded curtly, and held the door open while 
she passed into the study. 


114 RAINBOW GOLD 

She placed a small log on the fire, which flamed 
up brightly. 

“We needn’t light the lamp, need we? The fire- 
light is so cozy. And may I fill your pipe for 
you? ” 

He pushed the tobacco- jar towards her. 

“ I suppose you always smoke after supper, don’t 
you? I — I wish you would let me come in some- 
times. You smoke the same brand that Dad did, 
and I always used to fill and light his pipe for him. 
It takes me back to the dear old times to sniff that 
tobacco now.” 

She handed him the pipe and struck a match. 
As the little flame lighted up her face he saw that 
her dark eyes were misty with unshed tears. 

“ Umm-umm ! ” She drew in a deep breath. 
“ That does smell good ! I’ve been aching to get 
a whiff of that ever since I was in here before.” 

He did not reply, and she glanced about the 
study. 

“What a wonderful room you have! Those 
book-shelves look inviting, and that cabinet of curios 
is a perfect wonder-land of treasures. Some day 
will you let me come and examine them? ” 

“ Perhaps. I’m not in the habit of letting any 
one interfere with them. Now will you enlighten 
me as to the reason of this unexpected visit? ” 


ALEXANDER THE GREAT 115 


“ Grandfather, I have a new friend at the Acad- 
emy, such a clever boy. Lex Meredith. May I in- 
vite him here to supper some Friday evening, if 
Aunt Olivia doesn’t object? ” 

Grandfather puffed in ominous silence. “ Who 
is he? I haven’t heard of him.” 

“ He lives at Barber’s farm, and walks in every 
day to the Academy. He works very hard and has 
so little pleasure, and I want him to come here to 
see Basil. Basil never has a chance to speak to a 
boy. It’s terribly lonely for him, for Cecily and I 
are away all day.” 

“At Barber’s farm, eh? He’s a charity orphan, 
isn’t he? ” 

Toni’s eyes flashed. “ He’s an orphan, but he 
earns his living. It isn’t a case of charity.” 

“Ahem! The next thing will be that you will 
want to entertain all the riff-raff of the town here, 
and amuse them by allowing them to overhaul my 
cabinets, I suppose.” 

Toni sighed and stood up. “ Then it is. No?” 

“ Sit down,” he growled. “ Tell your Aunt 
Olivia that your guest will take supper next Friday, 
if he accepts your invitation. Or shall I have to 
invite him formally? Beggars are usually proud.” 

“ Oh ! may I really ask him? ” Toni ignored the 
sneering remark. 


116 


RAINBOW GOLD 


“ Yes. Er — pipe’s out.” 

She rekindled the pipe, and then seated herself 
on a footstool near his chair. 

He started. “Antoinette ! ” 

Toni did not hear the whispered exclamation, 
and she began to chatter about her work at the 
Academy. 

“ I’m not so sure about other subjects, but I 
know positively that I shall have a good report in 
French,” she ended merrily. 

“ French? ” he repeated. “ Can you — sing — 
any French songs? ” 

“ I don’t sing as well as Cecily, but I know a few 
little French songs. Shall I sing them for you? ” 

“ Yes — sing! ” 

With her hands clasped about her knees, she sang 
in a sweet, lilting voice some quaint old French 
songs. He sat back and listened as he gazed into 
the dancing flames. 

“Au clair de la lune, 

Mon ami Pierrot i 

Pretez-moi ta plume 
Pour ecrire une mot. 

Ma chandelle est morte, 

Je n^ai plus de feu ; 

Ouvrez-moi ta porte, 

Pour Tamour de Dieu!” 

She felt a hand laid gently upon her head. 


ALEXANDER THE GREAT 117 


Gradually it slipped to her shoulder, and, still sing- 
ing, she leaned against his knee, just as she had 
often done with her father in the dear, joyous days 
at home. A little sob choked her utterance, and 
her voice broke. 

“ Oh, Grandfather, I’m so lonesome for Daddy 1” 
the words came involuntarily. 

He said nothing, but she felt a gentle pressure 
on her shoulder. She did not know that, years ago, 
the French Antoinette had cried after singing that 
song, because she too was lonesome, for her home in 
sunny France. 

Presently Toni stood up. “ I must go and study 
my lessons now. Good-night, Grandfather; and 
thank jmu for letting me invite Lex.” 

“Wait!” he called when she reached the door. 
He lighted the lamp and opened a drawer of his 
desk. Taking out a key, he handed it to her. 

“ This belongs to the room up-stairs in the south 
wing. There is a piano there. Tell Olivia to have 
Delia air and warm the place so that Basil can — 
practise, if he wishes to do so.” 

“ Oh, Grandfather! ” she began, but he dismissed 
her abruptly with an impatient gesture. 

“ Run along! run along! ” 

After she had gone he paced up and down the 
room in a sort of caged-lion promenade. 


118 


RAINBOW GOLD 


“ Idiot ! ” he apostrophized himself. “ There’ll 
be no peace in the house. Stranger, piano, noise! 
It will be imbearable. ’Toinette’s piano! Ah! 
idiot, imbecile, fool that I am ! ” 

He returned to his chair, and, taking his memo- 
randum-pad from the table, inscribed a few words: 
“ Piano-tuner from Portland.” 

He hurled the pad back to the table. 

“ I’m in my dotage. I’ve reached imbecility,” 
he muttered. “ That child with her dark eyes has 
bewitched me. Idiot ! ” 

The fire crackled as if repeating the word, 
“ Idiot, idiot!” 

Outside a wailing wind hovered about the house ; 
and a loosened strand of Virginia creeper rapped 
faintly against the window, as if striving for ad- 
mittance; like the frail memories that were tapping 
for entrance into the old man’s tightly-closed heart. 


CHAPTER IX 
DELIA ISSUES AN ULTIMATUM 

It seemed to Toni the next morning that her 
experience in the study with her grandfather was a 
dream. He usually breakfasted alone, but this 
morning he joined them in the living-room. He 
snarled at Aunt Olivia when she handed him his 
coffee, as if he suspected her of offering him poison. 
He frowned at Cecily, so that her hand trembled 
and the rolls fell from the plate she was passing 
him. 

“Bah! awkward creature!” he growled; and 
Cecily’s eyes grew tearful. 

Basil was drawn into the whirlpool of ill-humor 
when he attempted to thank his grandfather for 
allowing him to practise on the piano up-stairs. 

“ Bah I keep the doors shut when the tom-foolery 
is going on. Don’t let me hear any of it. Rot ! ” 
He shook his morning-paper with an angry rustle, 
and there was a brief interval of peace as he hur- 
riedly scanned the first page. 

Presently he addressed the imperturbable Delia 
119 


120 


RAINBOW GOLD 


as a “ bedizened female,” when she brought in his 
poached egg. His loud voice made the glass prisms 
on the chandelier over the table shake like the 
frightened chattering of a hundred teeth. When 
he asked Toni to pass the butter, the request 
sounded like a melodramatic villain saying to a 
vanquished foe, “ Base cur, die a thousand deaths! ” 

When he saw the amount of butter on the dish 
he became thoroughly infuriated and hurled in- 
vectives of rage and abuse at Delia. 

“ Delia! ” His fist came down on the table with 
the force of a sledge-hammer. The spoons in the 
jar uttered a feeble shriek; the prisms shivered; the 
cups and saucers shook; but Delia stood as ex- 
pressionless as a huge rag-doll. Not an eyelash 
dickered. 

“ Delia, half that quantity of butter is sufficient 
for a meal ! ” he roared. “ I will not countenance 
such wasteful extravagance. Take half of that 
butter away! ” 

Delia stared blankly at him. 

“ Is the creature deaf, dumb, or stupid? Speak, 
woman ! ” Down crashed the fist again. 

Delia folded her arms, drew in a tremendous 
breath, and stood like a battleship with decks 
cleared for action. 

She spoke. " *Man shall not live by bread alone/ 


DELIA ISSUES AN ULTIMATUM 121 

by which the Lord meant that man has to have 
butter on liis bread. And if the cows ain’t mean 
with the milk, and the Lord ain’t mean with the 
cream when I’m churnin’, I ain’t goin’ to be mean 
with the butter! ” 

Her words were like the explosion of a bomb. 
Mr. Hastings glared in speechless amazement; the 
children were aghast at Delia’s temerity; and Aunt 
Olivia bowed behind the refuge of the coifee-urn, 
as if dodging stray missiles. Delia, with an im- 
mobile face, continued her rapid fire of words. 

“ The Lord made food, and the Lord gave folks 
appetites, so that food shouldn’t go to waste; it 
being the Lord’s intention that folks with appe- 
tites should eat food. And I ain’t goin’ to be the 
one to upset the Lord’s plans while I’m settin’ of 
your table. So long as I churn your butter, it’s 
goin’ into stomachs as is ready for it; just as the 
Lord intended it to do. And if you want to skimp 
your table with butter, you’ll have to get some one 
else to do your churning.” 

Delia the Defiant marched out of the room. 

There was a faint, nervous giggle from Cecily, 
and then silence fell like a pall. Mr. Hastings 
barricaded himself with his newspaper, and Aunt 
Olivia gazed with dreamy sadness into her coffee, 
sipping it absent-mindedly. The three children 


122 


RAINBOW GOLD 


were filled with an unholy desire to laugh, which 
they valiantly suppressed by an elaborate system 
of Fletcherizing each mouthful. They munched 
slowly and firmly, looking at their plates with fixed 
intentness. 

A faint “mew” roused the attention of all. 
Delia, in her quick exit, had neglected to close the 
door, and there stood Mrs. Omar Khayyam, glossy 
and fluffy, a dream of feline beauty. 

Mr. Hastings had a rooted aversion to cats, and 
the sight of Mrs. Omar was the last straw which 
brought about a complete collapse of his self-con- 
trol. Since her arrival, Mrs. Omar had been care- 
fully kept out of his way. Why, oh, why, did she 
choose this unlucky moment for making her first 
appearance? 

Mr. Hastings crushed his newspaper and threw 
it at Mrs. Omar, who, when she emerged from its 
crackling folds, elevated her back and fluffed out 
her tail and voiced her indignation in a way which 
was equal, if not superior, to that of her opponent. 

“ Siss-siss-siss — pstsh-sh-sisstststst ! ” said Mrs. 
Omar. 

“ Whose cat is that? Where did it come from? 
Who dared to bring it here? It shall be shot at 
once ! ” Grandfather rang the bell furiously. 

Delia appeared, stolid and immovable. 


DELIA ISSUES AN ULTIMATUM 123 


“ Delia, call your father! Take that cat out and 
have it shot at once! Do you hear? And let me 
see it afterwards, to assure myself that my orders 
have — been obeyed. Shot at once, do you hear? ” 
stormed the old man. 

He turned to Toni. “ I suppose this animal be- 
longs to you, Toni. It looks like you, all legs and 
fluffy hair; and a spitfire as well. And you, 
Olivia!” The table trembled under a blow from 
his hand. “ V ou have connived at this, and allowed 
a chit of a girl to bring this cat into the house! 
Delia, take it out and tell your father to shoot it im- 
mediately.” 

Delia stooped and picked up Mrs. Omar. 

“ Shot at once ! ” repeated Mr. Hastings. 

“ No, Basil! ” an unexpected voice came from the 
door. They all turned and beheld Aunt Priscilla, 
who had not walked from her room for over thirty 
years, clinging to the door- jamb. Two angry spots 
flamed in her cheeks, and her gray eyes flashed with 
scorn. 

“ That cat shall not be shot ! She belongs to me. 
Do you hear, Basil? She is not to be shot! ” 

Aunt Priscilla tottered. Toni and Aunt Olivia 
sprang to her assistance and led her to a chair. 

Mr. Hastings nodded his head several times. 
Priscilla’s appearance had startled him; and his 


124 


RAINBOW GOLD 


wrath evaporated with a magical swiftness, like air 
from a pricked balloon. 

“ For an invalid of over thirty years’ standing, 
Priscilla, your exhibition of strength and temper is 
truly remarkable. It almost tempts me to believe 
in miracles.” 

“Humph! Stop chafing my hands, Olivia! 
I’m not going to faint. Stay here with that cat, 
Delia! Humph! Basil, my walking in here may 
be a miracle; and perhaps my temper was a crutch 
that helped me along. Or perhaps your temper 
drew me here like a magnet. All your life your 
will has seldom been thwarted. You have been 
obeyed and feared by every one. A command from 
your lips has usually met with implicit obedience. 
Olivia’s meeloiess has encouraged you in your 
domineering ways. You were spoiled as a child. 
In the nursery you were allowed to be an autocrat, 
a little czar. It is not to be wondered at that you 
have developed into a tyrant. Here’s a miracle for 
you to believe in ! That cat shall not be shot. She 
is mine, and she stays here with me — in this house. 
Humph! ” 

“Bah! Invalids and babies must be humored. 
Keep your cat if it pleases you, but never let it 
come in my sight again. Delia, take the cat to Miss 
Priscilla’s room. Toni, call on Dr. Winthrop and 



“For an invalid of over thirty years' standing, Priscilla, 
YOUR exhibition OF STRENGTH AND TEMPER IS TRULY REMARKABLE." 

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DELIA ISSUES AN ULTIMATUM 125 


ask him to come and see your aunt. Olivia, see that 
my things are packed at once. I shall go to Port- 
land to-day instead of to-morrow. Tell the boy 
to be ready to drive me to the ten- thirty train. You 
will now have the house to yourselves, with women, 
cats, and pianos. Bah! ” He left the room. 

Delia, with Mrs. Omar perched on her shoulder, 
gazed after him with her wooden expression, which 
did not change when she turned towards Toni and 
gave a slow, deliberate wink with her right eye. 
Aunt Priscilla began to get hysterical, and Cecily 
and Toni raced off to school, calling at Dr. Win- 
throp’s on their way. 

“ I hope the walk and the excitement haven’t 
hurt Aunt Priscilla,” panted Cecily. 

Dr. Winthrop found the patient in a state of 
hysterical excitement. He gave her a soothing 
draught, and when she had drifted into a reposeful 
slumber, he followed Aunt Olivia into the living- 
room. 

“ This affair has done Priscilla good,” he said. 
“All these years nature has been effecting a heal- 
ing process. In fact, I believe Priscilla might have 
walked long ago if she had roused herself . The cat 
deserves a medal. I’ll come to-morrow, and if she’s 
all right, we’ll let her do another little two-step by 
herself.” 


126 


RAINBOW GOLD 


a wonderful thing for — ^herl” Aunt 
Olivia clasped her hands, and a feeble smile shone 
over her face, like a watery sun in a gray sky. 

“And it will be a wonderful thing for you, too, 
Olivia. You’ve been a good, faithful sister. I’m 
afraid Priscilla’s invalidism was largely due to lack 
of will-power. Take a little freedom, my girl! 
Go out with those jolly little nieces of yours. 
You’ve allowed yourself to grow old, Olivia. Let 
those girls restore your youth. Cheer up! But 
don’t let Priscilla try a cake-walk before I get here 
to-morrow ! ” 

After the good doctor had gone. Aunt Olivia 
mused by the fire for a short time. Yes, she had 
allowed herself to grow old. She had been so 
5^oung, so bright, when she returned from Germany 
and found that poor Priscilla had slipped on the 
stairway and injured her back. ’Toinette had gone 
back to France a short time before, and there was 
the little Annette, who needed a mother’s care. 
Basil had become silent and morbid, spending all 
his time, as he did now, in his study with his books 
and papers. She had expected to go back to Ger- 
many, but she remained at home. She was so 
sorely needed. And now she was old — almost fifty 
years old! 

Delia entered. “ If you’re ready. Miss Has- 


DELIA ISSUES AN ULTIMATUM 127 


tings, I can go up with you to see about that room in 
the south wing.” 

Aunt Olivia started. “ Oh, yes, Delia. I will 
go with you — now.” 

“ Miss Hastings, I didn’t mean no disrespect to 
you when I spoke up to the old gentleman. I just 
had to get them words out. I’ve lived here all my 
life, and the only way I can hold my job and keep 
from being a worm, is to sass back now and then 
when there’s need for it; which there always is 
when one has dealings with a man. For men are 
thorns in the flesh and an everlasting trial to them 
that has to do with them. A man is but a man, 
whichever way you take him. You know that I 
ain’t no talker, but when I do talk, I have to say 
something that’s strong and firm. And this morn- 
ing the old gentleman got my dander up when he 
called me a female. That’s no name to give a 
woman ! ” 

The Hastings house was well cared for; even the 
closed rooms, which had not been used for years, 
were aired regularly and never allowed to become 
damp or stuffy. The covered furniture, the veiled 
mirrors, and the swathed chandeliers were fre- 
quently given baths of fresh air and sunlight. 
Daring moths who attempted to invade these 
domains were routed by the able generalship of 


128 


RAINBOW GOLD 


Delia, who was assisted twice a week by her cousin, 
Amazon Hupper. 

Mr. Hastings had expended money liberally for 
the house, in the way of modern plumbing and 
heating arrangements. His retrenchments usually 
took the form of some miserly economy in the 
matter of food; and his skirmish with Delia over 
the butter was simply the expression of that petty 
meanness which selfishness had added to his nature. 
He was in reality a broken-hearted, dyspeptic old 
man, whose unsatisfied craving for love drove him 
to acts of tyranny and displays of childish temper. 
Having failed in winning love, he took a fiendish 
delight in inspiring fear. 


CHAPTER X 

FUGUES, FUDGE, AND LULLABIES 

Aunt Olivia and Delia entered ’Toinette’s 
boudoir, where the piano had been voiceless for 
many years. Delia at once lighted a fire in the 
grate and the shutters were thrown wide-open. It 
was still a dainty room. The ceiling had been 
fancifully decorated with a blue sky; and several 
pretty pink cupids, peek-a-booing behind fleecy 
white clouds, tossed pink roses to one another. 

Now the sky was dim, the cupids looked pale, 
though still plump, and the roses were faded. The 
walls were hung with blue silk brocaded with pink 
roses, as if the cupids had thrown many of their 
blossoms from the sky. Long, slender mirrors with 
enameled frames like wreaths of roses paneled the 
walls. The spindly, gilt furniture was tarnished 
and dim. The fireplace was of white marble, with 
fluted columns supporting the shelf. 

They carefully removed the thick coverings from 
the piano and pushed it over towards a window. 
It was a small, old-fashioned instrument, and the 
129 


130 


RAINBOW GOLD 


case had been enameled in white, with dainty rose- 
designs traced in gilt. Above the keyboard were 
panels of blue silk whose folds radiated from a pink 
rose in the center. 

Aunt Olivia raised the lid and removed the strip 
of felt which had covered the keys. How yellow 
they were! And what tinkling sounds they gave 
out when she played a few soft, trembling chords! 

Basil, who was in his bedroom, heard the sounds, 
and came along the hall as fast as his crutch would 
carry him. He burst into the room with shining 
eyes and flushed cheeks. 

“ Oh, Aunt Olivia! ” he cried; and at once seated 
himself before the piano. 

He ran his fingers over the keys, and his thin 
face paled with disappointment when he heard the 
queer, twanging discords produced by the broken 
strings. 

“ It’s horribly out of tune, and many of the wires 
are broken; so it’s really no use after all!” The 
poor boy leaned over and hid his face on the music- 
ledge. 

Aunt Olivia laid her hand gently on his shoulder. 
“ Perhaps — ^your grandfather — will have it put in 
order.” 

Basil looked up with a sad smile and shook his 
head. “ I’m afraid to hope for that. Aunt Olivia. 


FUGUES, FUDGE, LULLABIES 131 


It would just mean another crusher. I’ll work at 
scales and technical exercises on this as long as 
Grandfather will allow it. I’ll try to imagine that 
it is a practice-clavier. It will be torture, but I 
think it will be a little better than playing finger- 
exercises on a table, as I have been doing since I 
came here.” 

The next morning a thin, spectacled man with a 
bristly mustache, and carrying a long black bag, 
arrived from Portland. Delia answered his knock 
and left him seated in the large hall while she an- 
nounced his coming to Aunt Olivia. 

“ Miss Hastings, there’s a man in the hall who 
says he’s come from Portland to look at the piano. 
I guess he’s crazy, for there must be plenty of 
pianos in Portland for him to look at, without him 
coming all this way to look at ours.” 

Aunt Olivia rose. “ It must be a man to tune 
the piano, Delia. I will take him up-stairs.” 

In the kitchen Delia confided to the stove she was 
polishing her opinion that it was mighty queer for 
a man to say he wanted to look at the piano if he 
came to chune it ; and he must be a hugglar, and no 
mistake! She immediately went to her bedroom 
and donned all her choice treasures, comprising two 
rings set with glassy rubies and emeralds, a brooch 
which shone like a small searchlight, a string of 


132 


RAINBOW GOLD 


yellow beads, an Ingersoll watch, and a silver chain- 
bracelet, dangling with hearts and perforated dimes. 

“ I guess I look like I was Queen o’ Spain, pol- 
ishin’ the stove,” she muttered, as she brushed with 
much elbow-energy. “ Chune the piano, indeed 1 
He’s a bugglar, that’s what; but he don’t buggle 
my things! He won’t get so much as a bead off 
of me.” 

When she served dinner she regarded the little 
piano-tuner, whose work would keep him there all 
day, with a wary eye, though her face was as 
wooden as ever. Her hearts and dimes rattled, her 
beads clicked, and her brooch and rings glittered, 
as if brazenly daring the “ chuner ” to attempt to 
“ buggle ” them. 

The stranger seemed to be quite oblivious of the 
magnificence displayed before him, as he talked of 
musical affairs in Portland, including the last Fes- 
tival and a recent organ-recital. These events led 
up to his announcement that he had written some 
music; a waltz, several two-steps, and a march, 
which the theatre orchestra at Peaks’ Island had 
played last summer at the end of each perform- 
ance. 

“ To chase the audience out of the house,” he 
ended, giving his joke the support of a feeble laugh. 

That evening Basil played for over two hours. 


FUGUES, FUDGE, LULLABIES 133 


After the girls had studied their lessons and paid 
their usual good-night visit to Aunt Priscilla and 
Mrs. Omar Khayyam, they joined him in ’Toi- 
nette’s boudoir. 

“ I hope Grandfather won’t come back until Sat- 
urday,” said Toni, as she and Cecily went up-stairs. 
“ Lex is coming to supper to-morrow night, and I 
almost wish I hadn’t asked him. If Grandfather is 
home, and should happen to be in one of his nasty 
moods, — well, it will be awful ! ” 

“ Perhaps he’ll be pleasant,” answered Cecil}?^ in 
consoling tones. “And, you know, he can be per- 
fectly darling when he is pleasant.” 

Toni had alternate intervals of trembling fear 
and wavering hope up to the last moment. On 
Friday afternoon, just as she was strapping her 
books together, and preparing to leave the Acad- 
emy with Cecily and Lex, she glanced out the win- 
dow and beheld Csesar Silas driving Mr. Hastings 
from the station. 

“Grandfather’s come back!” she whispered in 
dismay to the waiting Cecily. 

“Oh, Toni! he’ll be awful, I’m sure! We 
haven’t seen him since that dreadful row about 
Mrs. Omar on Wednesday. He’ll be sure to insult 
all of us and make Lex feel uncomfortable. Oh, 
suppose we tell Lex that his visit has to be post- 


134 


RAINBOW GOLD 


poned until next week ; that we aren’t well, getting 
smallpox or diphtheria or lumbago or something; 
and he’d better not come. I simply couldn’t stand 
a scene before Lex. I’ll pretend to have lumbago 
now! What are the symptoms, and where does 
one have lumbago? ” 

Toni gritted her teeth. “ No, I’m going to face 
it out. In spite of all his queersome cranks. Grand- 
father is a gentleman; and I feel that he will be 
decent when there is a guest in the house.” 

Nevertheless Toni quaked when she and Cecily 
entered the house with Lex. The boy’s shyness 
was not apparent when he met the two aunts. Un- 
der the influence of Cecily and Toni, Lex was 
rapidly learning to drop his awkward ways. When 
supper was ready, Toni went with a shivering dread 
to Mr. Hastings’s study. 

“ Supper is ready. Grandfather,” she announced. 
“And Lex is here. You remember you said I 
might invite him.” 

“Lex? H’m! The boy from Barber’s farm, 
isn’t he? What are you going to give him for 
supper? Have you killed the fatted calf for him, 
and for me — the returned prodigal? ” 

“ We have a tempting supper, but there’s no 
veal.” She gave him a mischievous glance. “ I 
believe I’m glad to see you. Grandfather! Make 


FUGUES, FUDGE, LULLABIES 135 


me very glad,” she rubbed her cheek against his 
sleeve, “ by being very nice.” 

He smiled at the whimsical entreaty of her face. 
“ Being very nice, eh? Well, here’s a beginning.” 

He gave her a neatly wrapped parcel, tied with 
tinsel cord. There was no mistaking the contents. 

“ Candies ! ” she exclaimed. “ Grandfather, 
you’re a duck ! ” 

She linked her arm in his and led him to the 
living-room. 

“ Here’s Grandfather!” she called in merry tones 
as they entered, as if his coming were the very 
j oiliest thing that could have happened. 

Lex was introduced and met with a friendly wel- 
come from the old man. During the meal Grand- 
father talked entertainingly, and adroitly led their 
guest into the conversation, nodding approvingly 
when Lex became enthusiastic and talked brilliantly 
for a boy of his years. 

“ There’s something in that lad,” thought Grand- 
father. And, as he noticed the roughened hands 
and broken finger-nails, he added, “ Pity he has to 
work on a farm — too good for it.” 

When they rose from the table, Basil turned to 
his grandfather. “ If it won’t disturb you, sir, we 
are going to have some music up-stairs,” he began 
diffidently. 


136 


RAINBOW GOLD 


“Music? Bah! Keep the doors shut.” Grand- 
father turned to Lex. “ Come again, my boy I 
Let me see, suppose we say next Friday? That 
is the only evening you young people are free from 
studies, isn’t it? ” 

“ I — I should like to come,” responded Lex. 
“ But I don’t think I can get another holiday so 
soon. To-night I arranged with one of the men 
to do my work, but I’m afraid I shall not be able 
to do so again. It’s very good of you to invite 
me, sir.” 

“ Not at all, not at all! Come if you can — ^my 
guest next time, not Toni’s.” 

They went up-stairs and carefully closed the door 
of ’Toinette’s room. 

“ I won’t play anything more lively than lullabies 
and nocturnes,” observed Basil, as he gave a pre- 
liminary ripple of pianissimo scales and arpeggios. 
“ I don’t want to disturb Grandfather; he’s been 
so decent to-night.” 

Although the register of the furnace was pouring 
warm breaths into the dainty room, they made a 
small fire in the grate. 

“ I think I must be related to Mrs. Omar,” 
laughed Toni, as she drew a slender stool towards 
the fire. “ I love to bask like a cat in the glow of 
a fire. Draw your chair up. Lex. You have the 


FUGUES, FUDGE, LULLABIES 137 


candies, Cecily, haven’t you? Nibble away! Look 
at those dear little, ansemic cupids! The firelight 
has given them such a healthy color that they look 
as if they had been taking iron pills.*^ 

“ Shall I light the lanip? ” asked Lex. 

“ No, thanks,” was Basil’s reply. “ I like to 
play by firelight. It’s more romantic.” 

He played a couple of Field’s Noetumes, and 
then drifted into the more elaborate ones of Chopin. 
Presently he paused. 

“ I wonder if this is disturbing Grandfather.” 

“ I’ll run do^vn and see if you can be heard in the 
hall,” cried Toni, jumping up. 

She closed the door after her and crept earefully 
down the front stairway. The plaintive melody of 
the “ G-major Nocturne ” could be faintly heard, 
and came to her ears like a little lost dream. As 
she drew near to Mr. Hastings’s study, she noticed 
that the door had been propped wide-open. Peer- 
ing into the room, she saw her grandfather sit- 
ting in his usual place before the fire, an open 
book lying unheeded on his knee. He was listen- 
ing! 

She hurriedly returned to the others. It’s all 
right, Basil! Play away, and don’t worry. It 
isn’t disturbing Grandfather!” 

“ Hurray ! Chuck me a chocolate, Cecily.” 


138 


RAINBOW GOLD 


With a chocolate caramel dissolving in his mouth, 
Basil played a fugue of Bach’s. 

“ Ooh ! ” groaned Toni when he had finished. 
“ Don’t give us another fugue! Fudge, I call it. 
Fugues are the most tantalizing things I have ever 
heard. They are musical puzzles, and would sound 
just as well if they were played upside-down. A 
fugue starts off with a simple little statement of a 
few notes; a thread of a tune played by one hand. 
The other hand answers it, and the first hand 
doesn’t like it. Then there is a tangle of tunes, 
each hand talking back at the other in an idiotic 
way, so that the brain of the listener is caught in 
a snarl of sounds. For a few moments there’s an 
awful mix-up, and then the whole thing ends in 
nothing. Fudge, say I to fugues! And here I 
swallow a piece of fudge.” 

“ Play Chopin’s ‘ Berceuse,’ ” suggested Cecily, 
selecting another bit of nougat. 

The beautiful slumber-melody floated from the 
piano. Basil played the unvarying accompaniment 
with a soft, delicate precision, the swaying, monot- 
onous rhythm suggesting the rocking movement 
of a cradle. His caressing touch made the melody 
sing with silvery sweetness through the lacy varia- 
tions, which were like a gauzy dream deftly woven 
with dainty runs and trills, fairy filaments of sound. 


FUGUES, FUDGE, LULLABIES 139 

When he had finished, he turned to Toni. 
“ Come, Toni, spout us a poem.” 

Toni hastily swallowed the remains of a dissolv- 
ing chocolate. She gazed dreamily into the fire and 
recited “ The Lady of Shalott,” while Basil im- 
provised an accompaniment. This was a favorite 
diversion of theirs. Toni, with her musical, low- 
toned voice, recited beautifully; and Basil had the 
wonderful gift of being able to express in tones the 
soul of harmony hidden in the poet’s words. 

“ What a wonderful effect you two get in that 
way! ” exclaimed Lex at the end. 

“I think that is so sad;” and the sentimental 
Cecily dabbed a tear off her nose. “ So pathetic! 
the poor thing! ” 

Toni reached over to the box and tossed another 
chocolate to Basil. With a Jordan almond tucked 
in her left cheek, she began: “ To my mind, the 
Lady of Shalott was an awful chump. After the 
curse came upon her she needn’t have moped and 
mooned in her castle until the dreary autumn and 
it was time for her to die. She might have put on 
her best gown and sailed down to Camelot in ‘ the 
blue, unclouded weather.’ There she would have 
had a good time flirting with all the knights, and 
going to banquets and tournaments. Then, per- 
haps, she wouldn’t have died after all. If a curse 


140 


RAINBOW GOLD 


descended upon me, no one would hear me singing a 
swan-song about it while I sank beneath its weight. 
I’d kick up my heels so that no curse should have a 
chance to roost on me! ” She crunched the almond 
between her teeth. 

“ Good! ” cried Lex. “ I agree with you, Toni. 
Miss Shalott was a chump. Take Lady Clare, 
now ! She was a wise damsel. When she went to 
tell Lord Ronald about Nurse Alice’s perfidy, note 
that she had a sense of dramatic values. She 
dressed for the part. ‘ She clad herself in a russet 
gown,’ says Tennyson. It was most becoming to 
her complexion, I am sure ! And then she had the 
forethought to place ‘ a single rose in her hair.’ 
Naturally Lord Ronald fell for it. No man could 
withstand such wiles.” 

“ Then there’s the Beggar Maid,” went on Basil 
with a laugh. “ She was another sly minx, I know I 
Pleading eyes, downcast looks, long curling lashes 
formed the ‘ lovesome mien ’ that won King 
Cophetua. Those poetry ladies were ‘ sly, devilish 
sly,’ as our old friend, Joey B., would say.” 

They all laughed merrily. Lex glanced at 
Basil’s clock which stood on the mantel. 

“ Forget the time. Lex,” said Basil. “ Wait a 
few moments and we’ll give you something to think 
about when you are walking along that dreary road 


FUGUES, FUDGE, LULLABIES 141 


to-night ; something to shine ‘ on icy fallow and 
faded forest.’ Tune up for the ‘Gleam,’ Toni! 
Now, everybody get ready and — ‘ follow the 
gleam.’ ” 

He began a simple theme of wondrous beauty, 
and wove it like a golden thread through harmonies 
of various colors. Toni recited “ Merlin and the 
Gleam ” ; and the music caught the gleam like an 
inspiration. It was a song of enchantment, and 
listeners and performers fell under its spell as the 
triumphant chords swept on to the end and Toni’s 
ringing voice cried out, “After it, follow it, follow 
the gleam! ” 


CHAPTER XI 

A LETTER, A WEDDING, AND A SNEEZE 

“ Toni, how do you spell ‘ assassination ’? ” asked 
Cecily, looking up from a letter she was writing. 

Toni was seated at the other end of the table, 
similarly employed. Her pen was careering madly 
across the page, leaving an irregular trail of writing 
behind it. 

“Assassination? ” repeated Toni. 

“ Yes. How is it spelled? ” a little frown of 
perplexity furrowed Cecily’s placid brow. 

“ Double ass-i-n-a-t-i-o-n.” Toni’s pen tripped 
and caused a splash of tiny blots. 

“ Wh-what? ” 

“ Write ‘ ass ’ twice, which is equal to double-ass; 
and join them to i-n-a-t-i-o-n. There you have 
‘ assassination.’ ” 

“ I’m such a dreadful speller,” sighed Cecily. 
“ When I try to spell words like ‘ believe ’ and ‘ re- 
ceive,’ I never can remember whether the i precedes 
the e, or the e precedes the 2.” 

“ That’s easy,” rejoined Toni. “ Make them 
142 


A LETTER, A WEDDING, A SNEEZE 143 

both alike ; either two e*s or two Vs. INIany people 
make their e’s loopy, like There’s an ad- 

vantage in that careless method, because people 
can’t decide whether you have misspelled the word 
or whether your penmanship is so characteristic that 
it is illegible.” 

“But I want to write distinctly,” objected Cecily; 
and she looked down at the dainty calligraphy of 
her half-written page. 

“And you do,” added Toni. “ Your writing is 
so pretty and clear that you can’t possibly disguise 
bad spelling. When you aren’t sure about a word, 
just drop a blot on it. That will cover up the 
crime.” 

“ Oh, I shouldn’t like to do that! ” cried Cecily. 
“ I think it is dreadful to send people smudgy 
letters. Anyway, you have no excuse for your un- 
tidy letters. You can spell, and yet you have blots 
on every page.” 

“ I know, but I can’t help it, for my fingers al- 
ways go into mourning when I write. J ust look I ” 
Toni held out her right hand and showed three 
blackened fingers. 

It was Saturday afternoon, and the two girls 
were seated at the table near their bedroom window. 
A fire burned steadily in the grate. Outside the 
sky was low and menacing, and the ocean boomed 


144 


RAINBOW GOLD 


incessantly. The green of the distant islands 
seemed ahnost black. 

“ It makes me feel cold just to look outside,” 
murmured Cecily. 

Faint sounds of Basil’s practising came from the 
south wing. Toni rose and opened the door. 

“ With winter staring me in the face outside, it’s 
comforting to hear Basil playing spring-songs and 
bird-music,” she remarked; and she picked up a 
partly eaten apple from the table and proceeded 
to munch. 

“Will you put my letter to Dad in the envelope 
with yours? ” asked Cecily, as she pushed a folded 
letter towards Toni. “And now for an apple and 
‘ David Copperfield,’ ” she added. 

She was soon curled up in the big rocking-chair, 
eating an apple and sniffing audibly over the death 
of little Dora. 

Toni drew a fresh sheet of paper towards her 
and began to write. 

Ultima Thule, 

Dear old Daddums: 

This is the coldest November in Maine in 
twenty years. Thus saith Csesar Silas. 

The ground is like iron; the air is invisible ice; 
and it is so cold that even the wind has been fright- 
ened away. Everything is still. The roar of the 
ocean is subdued and queer. The great pines stand 


A LETTER, A WEDDING, A SNEEZE 145 


motionless, as if they felt the awful weight of the 
sky pressing upon them. So much for the bleak- 
ness outside. 

Within, it is warm and cheerful. Down in the 
cellar the furnace is doing its duty, and is like a 
fabulous dragon in a dark cave, belching forth fiery 
breaths of hot air. Then there is a gay little fire in 
the grate, blossoming like a rose, with flame-petals 
curling and uncurling. 

Cecily and I are getting along well at school, and 
we are now acquainted with most of the Peacedale 
people, who no longer stare at us as if we were wild 
animals escaped from the winter quarters of a 
circus. 

I wish you could see some of the people! Mr. 
and Mrs. Fly, for instance. He is a huge giant 
of a man, with a frightened expression and a long 
beard. He always seems to be hiding behind his 
beard. And no wonder! His wife, Mandy, is 
small, wiry, and loquacious. A look from her eye 
is like the sting of a bee. She has a quick, sibilant 
way of speaking, so that her conversation fairly 
hisses in one’s ear. She sees everything, hears 
everything, and tells everything — evil, of course; 
so she does not in any way resemble that famous 
trio of Nikko monkeys. She looks like a witch, and 
I am sure she rides about on a broomstick at night. 

Another personage worth seeing is Ezekiel 
Martin, constable of Peacedale. Every day at 
noon he parades the main street, swinging his stick 
in his hand, just to show that he is keeper of law 
and order in Peacedale. His position is a sine- 
cure; for Peacedale, as its name implies, is an abode 


146 


RAINBOW GOLD 


of the just and meek. If Ezekiel ever had to arrest 
any one, I believe he would drop dead with 
apoplexy. He is short and very, very fat; and he 
struts along with the gait of a plump, overfed 
pigeon. Indeed, he is like an Atlas who is carry- 
ing the world in his waistcoat instead of on his 
shoulders. His nose is a dream — a rosy dream ; for 
it is ruddier than the cherry. It looks as if an army 
of blushes had gathered all their forces and pitched 
their camp behind the ramparts of his bristling 
mustache. His voice is a combination of squeaks 
and grunts and panting breaths, so that when he 
speaks he resembles a broken-winded harmonium. 

Mrs. Sawyer, the wife of the general storekeeper, 
is another Peacedale celebrity, famed chiefly for her 
sneeze. Foundations shake, walls tremble, and 
roofs are carried bodily away when INIrs. Sawyer 
sneezes. A stranger visiting Peacedale and seeing 
ruin and devastation everywhere might ask in awed 
tones, “ Has there been an earthquake? ” But a 
Peacedale native would nonchalantly reply, “ Oh, 
no; Mrs. Sawyer sneezed last night.” 

Aunt Priscilla and Basil are very chummy. She 
is able to walk a little now, and usually has her 
meals with the family. How I long for our jolly, 
chatty meal-times ! Here I always feel that Banquo 
is sitting beside me — a gory ghost. Every one is 
grim and silent, and it seems almost a crime to 
swallow. Aunt Olivia is kind and sweet, but she is 
so vague that she seems but a mere shadow of a per- 
sonality. I always feel shy when I talk to her; 
and, you know, shyness with me is not constitu- 
tional! But I simply cannot get near to Aunt 


A LETTER, A WEDDING, A SNEEZE 147 


Olivia. She makes me feel as if I were talking over 
the long-distance telephone with some one I had 
never seen. And I never can tell the truth when 
I talk through a telephone. 

Grandfather is a puzzle. Sometimes he is a 
darling and does the dearest things. Then he veers 
in the opposite direction and he is the most hateful 
person in the world. No ogre in a fairy-tale can 
equal him. I can’t account for his queer nature. 
In attempting to diagnose his character I halt be- 
tween two opinions — sheer cussedness or bilious- 
ness. Perhaps it is both. His fits of good humor 
are “ like angels’ visits, few and far between.” At 
those times he is really a lovable old man; but he 
usually manifests an inexplicable aversion to the 
sight of us, and his unfriendly attitude freezes any 
affection we may feel like showing him. His 
temper is like an old, worn-out bridge, and ought 
to be labeled: “ Dangerous — Drive Slow! ” 

I didn’t tell you about the Harvest Festival, did 
I? The dear little church looked so pretty! It 
was decorated with autumn leaves, sheaves of grain, 
shocks of corn, potted flowers from various homes, 
and pumpkins. Yes, pumpkins! And they were 
great golden orbs, positively poetic. I couldn’t 
help thinking of how they would look hollowed out 
and slit with eyes, nose, and mouth, according to 
Hallowe’en custom, with lighted candles inside. 
And it seemed that every pumpkin was grinning 
at me in the most diabolical way during prayers, 
which, of course, filled me with an intense longing 
to giggle. I was glad when the congregation stood 
up to sing; and I joined them lustily in declaring 


148 


RAINBOW GOLD 


how we had ploughed the fields and scattered the 
good seed on the land. 

I wish you knew Lex. He is so brave and cheer- 
ful in spite of all his difficulties. He is a sermon 
to me. When I get grouchy and dissatisfied, I 
think of the wonderful courage he shows in his 
battle with destiny; and I pull myself out of the 
slough of despond and begin to climb the heights 
and reach out towards the stars. 

Among other things, Lex is an excellent French 
scholar, solely through his own efforts. Unaided, 
he has studied for four years ; but his pronunciation 
is terrible. That is where little Toni comes in. I 
didn’t have a French grandmother for nothing. So 
when we walk to school together we speak French, 
and I am polishing his accent for him. 

A dear letter came from Jean yesterday. It is 
so good to hear from some one who sees you occa- 
sionally. And wasn’t I glad to hear that you 
weren’t picking oakum or jute or anything of that 
sort! I thought all prisoners picked oakum; and 
I feel sure it must be horrible, though I don’t ex- 
actly know what it is like. Jean tells me that you 
are doing clerical work and have charge of the 
prison library. 

Mrs. Omar is sleek and well. She sends you a 
purr and a pat of her paw. 

Just at this moment Basil is playing Grieg’s “ I 
Love Thee,” one of your favorites. I wish you 
could hear it, so that it might tell you that: “ I love 
thee better than all else on earth. I love thee for 
Time and Eternity! ” 


Toni Long-Legs. 


A LETTER, A WEDDING, A SNEEZE 149 

“ Dear old Dad! ” murmured Toni as she sealed 
the letter. 

She glanced out the window. “ Oh, you great, 
restless old ocean! What are j^ou striving for? Is 
there some unsatisfied longing hidden in your heart 
that makes you murmur and moan so ceaselessly? 
Oh, you big world, so full of hope, joy, sorrow, and 
love! Surely somewhere there is some force of 
justice that can be set in motion to right all wrongs 
and give me back my father! ” 

A wind began to shriek around the corner of the 
house and whirled through the pines, waving their 
plumes in its mad grasp, so that the trees seemed 
to move like Birnam Wood marching on to Dun- 
sinane. 

“ Snow ! ” cried Toni. 

Cecily dropped her book and rushed to the win- 
dow. Huge flakes were being sifted from the sky. 
The wind tossed them wildly about. 

“ Those flakes are like a swarm of white bees,” 
mused Cecily. 

“ Or flower-ghosts,” added Toni. “And see how 
those red berries gleam! The shrubs look as if they 
were strung with coral beads.” 

Soon the whirling mass of white grew thicker and 
hid the sea from view. A little drift piled up on the 
window-sill outside, and the pines began to sheet 


150 


RAINBOW GOLD 


themselves like ghosts. The hard, frozen ground 
was quickly covered with snow. The roaring of 
the ocean was muffled and mysterious, its regular 
pulse sounding like the tread of winter’s unseen 
army, marching to the music of the wild north- 
east wind. The iron conqueror. Winter, had 
arrived! 

On the last Wednesday in November, Peacedale 
was roused temporarily from its winter sleep by the 
wedding of Lucy Cutter, daughter of ^licah 
Cutter, who was proprietor of the Peacedale Inn, 
and Lorenzo Twichell, owner of a small lumber- 
mill up the river. 

Lucy was a dashing coquette, and had kept sev- 
eral beaux dangling to her string; so that when she 
finally decided in favor of Lorenzo every one was 
interested in the affair, and every one planned to 
be present at the wedding. 

Lucy had insisted on a church wedding, much 
against the wishes of the bashful groom, who would 
rather have slunk off with his bride, to be married 
in the next village. The pretty Lucy, however, 
was determined to be seen in the glory of her 
wedding-gown, made by a Portland dress- 
maker. 

People began to gather at the church long before 
the time fixed for the ceremony. Even several of 


A LETTER, A WEDDING, A SNEEZE 151 

the men of Peacedale were there, but their presence 
was the result of a practical joke. Tommy Wat- 
kins and Otis Brackett, who were convalescing from 
whooping-cough, and were in a state of partial 
quarantine which enforced their absence from 
school, rang the church-bell with the quick, sharp 
strokes that signified a fire-alarm. All the mem- 
bers of the volunteer fire department responded, 
and quickly appeared at the church, pulling the 
hose-reel. Finding no one there to direct them to 
the scene of conflagration, they realized that they 
had been hoaxed. 

“Stung!” ejaculated Jim Trefethen. “Well, 
boys, let’s go inside and lend a little rank and tone 
to the wedding.” 

The pupils at the Academy were restless through- 
out the morning; and every time a sleigh jingling 
with bells dashed by, a quiver of anxious excitement 
disturbed the classes. The mind of every boy and 
girl was asking and trying to answer the question, 
“ Shall we get to church in time to see the wed- 
ding? ” 

Mr. Gifford, with a good-natured smile, dis- 
missed the classes half an hour earlier than usual, 
on condition that the pupils agreed to remain 
later in the afternoon. This motion was carried 
unanimously. There was a pell-mell rush to St. 


152 


RAINBOW GOLD 


Stephen’s Church, and they arrived just in time to 
see the bride enter the quaint little Gothic door with 
her father. Breathless and eager, the girls and 
boys crept in and seated themselves in the rear of 
the church, while Lucy waited in the porch, in order 
to have her train and veil adjusted. 

The buxom and blushing bride walked slowly up 
the aisle towards the altar, where Lorenzo stood, 
flushed and choking in a high collar and a tight 
black suit. Even then he seemed to fear that the 
flirtatious Lucy, won after a siege of ardent wooing, 
might elude him and pick up some other admirer in 
preference to him before she reached the altar. 
Bracing his shoulders, swallowing hard, and almost 
splitting his coat, he rushed down the aisle to meet 
her. 

Opinions varied afterwards as to how he greeted 
Lucy. Kathrjm Lindsay reported that she dis- 
tinctly heard him say in quivering accents, “ I’ve 
come to meet my bride!” Jim Trefethen, how- 
ever, averred most solemnly that Lorenzo’s words 
were, “ Behold the bridegroom cometh! ” 

The nervous Lorenzo seized Lucy’s plump hand 
like a drowning man gTasping a plank, and when 
they reached the altar, he gave an audible sigh of 
relief, which provoked a repressed titter from the 
congregation. 


A LETTER, A WEDDING, A SNEEZE 153 

Mr. Lindsay, in snowy surplice, read the lines of 
the service with a rich, melodious voice. The words 
of the admonition were uttered with a solemnity 
which created a thrill of awed expectancy among 
the auditors: 

" Therefore if any man can shew any just cause 
why they may not lawfully be joined together, let 
him now speak or else hereafter forever hold his 
peace/^ 

There was a silence so tense that breaths were 
suspended and hearts almost ceased beating. For 
a few seconds it was oppressive. Then Mrs. 
Sawyer fired the shot heard round the world 1 She 
sneezed! The awful silence was rent with a pro- 
longed “ A-a-a-achee-hooooo I ” which made the very 
rafters ring. 

Every one gasped, and several hysterical laughs 
were heard. Mr. Lindsay saved the situation by 
promptly going on with the service, whose im- 
pressiveness was somewhat marred by the bride’s 
unsuccessful efforts to suppress her giggles. In- 
stead of making the customary response of “I 
will,” she pertly said, “ I guess so.” 

Mrs. Sawyer was the heroine of the hour, and 
afterwards she received more laughing congratula- 
tions than the bride. 

The next day brought skating, for the ice on 


154 


RAINBOW GOLD 


Chandler’s Pond was declared safe. Cecily and 
Toni depleted their pocketbooks that afternoon in 
buying skates at Ben Sawyer’s store. 

“ What are we going to do about buying Christ- 
mas presents? ” asked Cecily anxiously, as they 
walked along with clinking skates. 

“Jumping Jupiter!” exclaimed Toni aghast. 
“ I forgot all about Christmas being so near, and it 
is only four weeks away. I have just three pennies 
left, and that isn’t enough to buy chewing-gum for 
Delia.” 

“ O dear! it’s awful to be poor and have mo 
nunny, — I mean no money,” said Cecily in ag- 
grieved tones. “ I almost wish we hadn’t bought 
these skates.” 

“We must have money for Christmas,” declared 
Toni. “We simply must! I’m going to think out 
some way of getting money. You know, if you 
think hard enough about things you want, some sort 
of inspiration comes and shows you how to get 
them. You know the idea — moving mountains 
with mustard-seeds.” 

They had an early supper with Jim Trefethen and 
^la, and afterwards they all drove to Chandler’s 
Pond in the old pung. 

It was a wonderful night — clear, sparkling, and 
cold. The moon silvered the sky and gave the snow 


A LETTER, A WEDDING, A SNEEZE 155 

a dazzling- radiance. The frosty air above seemed 
to be glittering- with stars strung on moonbeams. 
The boys of Peacedale had swept the pond clean 
of snow; and from the high white banks piled 
around the edge, immense willows and poplars 
lifted their leafless branches towards the sky. A 
large bonfire was built near one end of the pond, 
where several benches were placed for the onlookers 
and those who wished to rest. Forms skimmed 
along the ice into the rosy glow which the fire threw 
out and then disappeared into the silvery gloom 
beyond. 

The air was filled with shouts and laughter and 
the scrunching, scratching sounds of the skates 
cutting through the ice. They played tag and 
crack-the-whip, and sang songs, the fresh young 
voices ringing out on the air with the sweetness of 
silver bells. Teddy Hale and Bobby Sterling 
played their mouth-organs as they skated, until 
their lips were almost paralyzed. 

“ How I wish Lex could have been with us ! ” 
said Toni regi-etfully, as Jim drove them home 
after leaving Ma at the cottage. 

“ There’s not much pleasure comes to Alex- 
ander,” was Jim’s reply. “ When he isn’t work- 
ing for the Barbers, he’s filling his head with knowl- 
edge, so he doesn’t get much time for fun. It’s a 


156 


RAINBOW GOLD 


weary road he has to travel, — dusty, windy, and full 
of rough stones. I often think that life is like a 
road stretching out ahead of us. We’re all striving 
to reach some goal, and a great deal depends upon 
how we look at the road. Some folks get dis- 
couraged and say, ‘ Oh, all this long way to go be- 
fore we get to where we are going! ’ And every 
step is a burden to them. Others, like Alexander, 
think, ‘ This road leads to where we are going; 
therefore it is part of the goal!’ And they start 
out with a courage that can’t be downed. With 
folks like that, just the starting is a glory, an 
achievement. Alexander’ll get his reward some 
day. This is how I know. Yesterday I read in 
one of my ‘ Home University ’ books some sen- 
tences from Emerson. There’s a wise man ! ‘ Put 

God in your debt,’ says Emerson. That’s what 
Alexander is doing. ‘ He’s putting God in his 
debt,’ said I to Ma. ‘And God’ll pay with in- 
terest,’ said Ma; for she’s just about as wise as 
Emerson. 

“ So Alexander’s laying up a big bank-account 
in Heaven, with his brave struggles and his uncom- 
plaining patience. I don’t suppose a day goes by 
without the recording angel adding something to 
Alexander’s credit, — some mean duty well done, 
some disappointment faced with a smile, some 


A LETTER, A WEDDING, A SNEEZE 157 


broken hope propped up with courage. That’s 
Alexander! I guess he and Ma are the biggest 
creditors the Lord has.” 

“ I should say you are a fairly big creditor your- 
self, Jim,” said Toni. 

“No; with me it’s the other way about. I’m in 
the Lord’s debt; and any good I’m able to do 
scarcely pays the interest on the loan the Lord ad- 
vanced me when I got Ma. But I go on doing the 
best I can ; and perhaps when everything is evened 
up at the end, Ma’s account will help to balance 
mine.” 


CHAPTER XII 

AN ADVENTURE AND ITS HAPPY ENDING 

Basil was industriously practising scales, dia- 
tonic and chromatic. His fingers rippled over the 
keys of the piano in double intervals, with wonder- 
ful clearness and velocity. The major and minor 
thirds and augmented fourths were tossed into the 
air like a prismatic spray of pearls, light, delicate, 
and shimmering. 

Toni, coated, hatted, and gloved, came into the 
room and stood quietly beside him. He glanced up 
and saw an expression of grim determination on her 
face. 

“ What’s the matter? ” he asked, and his left hand 
careered up and down with the scale of E-flat 
major. 

“ Can and will you lend me a dollar, Basil? ” 

“A dollar? I think so.” 

He emptied the contents of his pocket on the key- 
board and counted over the change. 

“ Fifty — seventy-five — eighty-five — ninety — one 
dollar! and three cents. There! that’s the last of 
168 


AN ADVENTURE 


159 


my resources. I willingly lend you the dollar, and 
cheerfully give you the three cents.” 

“ Thanks ever so much.” Toni gathered up the 
change and placed it carefully in her bag. 

“ What’s in the wind? ” inquired Basil. 

“ I’m going over to Portland. Aunt Olivia gave 
me permission. I didn’t consult Grandfather, for 
he’s so full of bedevilment these days that he would 
have ordered me to jail for a week, had I so much 
as spoken to him. Is there anything you want 
from town? ” 

He gave her a rueful smile. “Well, yes; hut 
you’ve cleaned me out. I need some music manu- 
script-paper and my watch is on the blink — keeps 
losing time. It needs some attention, but I don’t 
want to entrust it to Henry Cox, our Peacedale 
jeweler, pump-mender, and dentist. He may he 
an artist so far as pumps and teeth are concerned, 
but I’d hate to have him monkey with my watch. 
But never mind! If you could squeeze out the 
price of a few sheets of paper from that dollar, I’d 
be glad. The watch can wait.” 

Soon after Toni reached the station the train 
came in. She hurriedly entered the day-coach, 
seating herself on the side facing the ocean; and she 
did not notice that another Peacedale passenger 
drove up and mounted the steps of the Pullman. 


160 


RAINBOW GOLD 


When the train arrived at Portland, she descended 
to the platform with a quaking heart. She wan- 
dered about several dingy streets, gazing nervously 
up at the signs until she found what she was search- 
ing for — three golden balls suspended over a door. 
On the window appeared the name, “ J acob Seiffer- 
titz. Pawnbroker,” in white porcelain letters. 

She passed and repassed the place, sometimes 
pausing to look in the window, where a heterogene- 
ous collection of unredeemed articles was displayed. 
Several times she hesitated before the door, and 
then, in a panic of fear, turned and fled, as if she 
feared that Jacob Seiffertitz would come out and 
hurl the golden balls at her head. Often she would 
walk on the opposite side of the street, gazing across 
with a frightened fascination. At last she made a 
bold, straight dash and entered the shop. 

She assumed an offhand manner, as if entering 
pawnshops were a daily occurrence with her; but 
her heart was fluttering in her throat like a fright- 
ened bird, and her knees felt as if they were made 
of flimsy muslin, and wobbled like the knees of a 
rag-doll that had recently suffered a sawdust hem- 
orrhage. 

There was no one in sight, and she gazed about 
the shop apprehensively. It was a curious place. 
On one side were cupboards with glass doors, pad- 


AN ADVENTURE 


161 


locked. These were filled with wearing apparel. 
On the other side, behind the counter, were shelves, 
also protected with glass doors, containing various 
objects, — old-fashioned silverware, revolvers, a vio- 
lin with broken strings, two banjos, some quaint 
china, candlesticks, medals, and some framed 
prints, faded and yellow-margined. 

The counter held a glass case, which was filled 
with jewelry of all kinds, ticketed with price-labels. 
The rear of the store was in darkness, but the bulky 
form of a huge safe loomed through a grating which 
had been silvered with aluminum paint. There was 
a close, musty smell combined with the odor of 
moth-balls. 

Presently the door of the grating was pushed 
back, and a little round-shouldered man appeared, 
shuffling along in a pair of carpet-slippers. He 
came behind the counter and looked over the case at 
Toni with a pair of rheumy eyes. He had a moth- 
eaten appearance, and smelled as if he had been 
packed away in moth-balls for years. 

“ Veil, vat can I do for you dis morning, my 
young friendt? ” 

“ I — er — I have some things I — er — I wish to 
pawn.” She drew a small package from her bag. 

“ Achso?” 

She carefully unfolded the tissue paper and dis- 


162 RAINBOW GOI.D 

closed an amber necklace, an opal ring, and a 
watch. 

The man took a pair of spectacles from a shabby 
case, and put them on with trembling hands. He 
examined the articles carefully, sighing deeply with 
asthmatic wheezes. He opened the watch and 
turned it over several times. Then, laying the 
things on the tissue paper, he pushed them towards 
her with a gesture of contempt. 

“ Tree tollars.” 

“ Three dollars? ” echoed Toni in dismay. 
“ Why, I wanted twenty-five.” 

Jacob Seiffertitz raised his hands and eyes heav- 
enward. '' Mein Gott im Himmel! Vat you tink 
I am? A Vanderbilt vat gifs his moneys avay for 
nodings? 

“ The watch alone is expensive, and worth more 
than twenty-five dollars,” protested Toni. 

He shrugged his shoulders. “Ach! de vatchl 
It iss oldt-f ashionedt ! It iss not new. I gif you 
six tollars.” 

Toni shook her head. “No, I must have at least 
twenty.” 

He sighed and choked and then wiped his bleary 
eyes with a yellow handkerchief. “ Veil, ve split 
de differenz! I vill be generous — I vill gif you 
eight.” He leered at her with a toothless smile. 


AN ADVENTURE 


163 


“ No.” Toni was firm. 

“ Veil, now led me see!. I make it ten tollars. 
Vat you say to dat? Ten tollars! MeinGott!'' 

Toni hesitated and bit her lip. “ Very well; I’ll 
take ten dollars.” 

He placed the things in a drawer and handed her 
a filthy ten-dollar bill, which he took from a wallet 
literally bursting with wealth. He then began to 
write on a ticket, muttering as he painstakingly 
formed each letter. 

“ I know dat I in de poorhouse die! I, Jacob 
Seiffertitz, de friendt of effery one. My pizness 
will to de defile go; and I mit. Vat iss your name 
und de address? ” 

Toni gave him the required information, and he 
continued: “ Dere iss no chance for an honest man 
in dis worldt dat iss so filled mit cheats, deceptions, 
und duplicities. Dere, my young friendt!” He 
handed her the ticket. “ Dere iss your receipt ; und 
ven you look at it you vill tink mit de tears in your 
eyes, of how you have made one pig swindle on a 
poor, honest man vat tries to do pizness mit goot 
faith und integrities.” 

She folded the ticket and put it in her bag. With 
a sense of mingled humiliation and relief, she rushed 
towards the door. Out she ran and collided vio- 
lently with a gentleman who was passing. He was 


164 


RAINBOW GOLD 


clad in a fur-lined overcoat the collar of which was 
turned up and almost reached his sealskin cap. He 
stooped to pick up his cane, which the collision had 
knocked from his hand. 

“ I beg your pardon ! I’m so sorry ! ” began Toni 
as he rose; and she found herself face to face with 
Grandfather! 

A malicious smile lighted his face as he saw her 
speechless chagrin. 

“ This is an unexpected pleasure,” he said, glanc- 
ing with raised eyebrows at the pa^vnshop. “ Being 
your guardian, may I assume the right of inquiring 
what your business is in this questionable locality? 
And while you tell me, we will walk on.” 

They turned towards Congress Street. Toni 
was too mortified to utter a word, and hot, vexatious 
tears of confusion filled her eyes. 

“ Well, I am waiting for your explanation.” 
His voice was stern, but there was a queer little 
light beneath his bushy white brows; a light which 
might have seemed like an encouraging twinkle of 
humor to Toni, if she could have seen over the bar- 
rier of the high collar. 

In sheer desperation she spoke. “ I — er — I 
needed some money. Grandfather; and so I have 
just pawned some of my trinkets. I didn’t like 
doing it. It was awful! But Christmas is on the 


AN ADVENTURE 


165 


way, and I have to have some money to buy pres- 
ents. As Jo March said, ‘ Christmas won’t be 
Christmas without any presents.’ So I sneaked 
over here by myself, and hunted about until I found 
a pawnshop. Of course. Aunt Olivia gave me per- 
mission to come to town, but she didn’t know what 
my errand was. No one knew it. It’s quite my 
own idea. I — er — I never dreamed of meeting 
you! I didn’t know you were coming to town. 
You must have traveled on the same train as I did. 
It’s just my luck to be found out if I attempt to do 
anything unusual.” 

“ Pawnshops ! Bah ! ” His cane tapped the 
sidewalk impatiently. “ A nice morsel the Peace- 
dale gossips would have had to chew on, if Mandy 
Fly had happened to pass by as my granddaughter 
was coming out of a pawnshop. Bah! ” 

“ Oh, Grandfather! that would have been worse 
than meeting you ! I’d much rather get a scolding 
from you than have Mandy Fly see me! Really, I 
feel relieved that it is you after all! It has been 
the most funnily awful experience I have ever had. 
Did you ever try to pawn anything. Grandfather? 
You ought to see Jacob Seiffertitz, and hear 
him!” 

She gave him an amusing description of her in- 
terview, and suddenly she realized that they were 


166 RAINBOW GOLD 

laughing together over “ cheats, deceptions, and 
duplicities.” 

“ But, Grandfather,” she paused. “ Aren’t you 
going to scold me? Aren’t you going to be nasty 
over it? Do scold me quickly, and let us get it 
over. If there is to be an avalanche, I want it to 
descend at once.” 

“ You deserve a sound scolding, young lady; but 
I am not in the mood for it just now, so I’ll reserve 
it for another time.” 

“ Well, then, if I may. I’ll go and do some of my 
Christmas shopping and spend my ill-gotten gains.” 

“ We’ll have luncheon together first, and then I’ll 
join you in your shopping. H’m, Christmas shop- 
ping! There’s a restaurant next door to Long- 
fellow’s old home. We’ll go there.” 

Toni gave his arm a little squeeze. “ You dear, 
detestable, delightful old man! I’m glad I met 
you, after all! ” 

When they entered the restaurant Toni insisted 
on having a small table near a window, overlooking 
the garden next door. 

“ Oh ! ” she cried as she pulled off her gloves. 
“ Just think! we are looking into Longfellow’s back 
yard! Perhaps he played marbles under that tree. 
That shed may be the barn behind which Mr. Fin- 
ney’s celebrated turnip grew. And there’s a vine 


AN ADVENTURE 167 

still clinging to the moldering wall. Oohl it is 
interesting! ” 

Grandfather handed her the menu. “ Order 
what you wish.” 

Toni didn’t honor the card with a glance. 
“ Planked steak,” she said without hesitation. 

“ For two,” added Grandfather. 

When the waitress had gone off with their order, 
Grandfather looked at Toni’s flushed face and 
sparkling eyes. 

“ Now, why didn’t you come to me for money in- 
stead of dickering with a pawnbroker? ” 

“ Come to you? ” she exclaimed. “ Why, Grand- 
father, for the last two weeks I have scarcely dared 
to breathe or think in your presence. You have 
snubbed us all unmercifully if we ventured to say a 
word. I don’t believe you realize how difficult and 
disagreeable you are at times. I really couldn’t 
have asked you for the money. It would have 
taken more courage to do that than it did to face 
Jacob Seiffertitz. Besides, I wanted the money to 
buy Christmas presents with, and if I had asked you 
for it, it would have been like requesting you to buy 
presents for my friends. Now, this ten-dollar bill 
is my own. I feel as if I had earned it; though 
when I first met you, I felt as if I had just 
stolen it.” 


168 


RAINBOW GOLD 


“You had better turn your pawn- ticket over to 
me. I’ll allow you something for it; say fifteen 
dollars. Then I’ll redeem the jewels and hold 
them as security. This sort of thing is often done, 
and I shall be getting the best of the bargain. I 
presume your treasures are worth more than 
twenty -five dollars.” 

She hesitated. “ But, Grandfather ” 

“ Come along! Let us get this affair finished be- 
fore the steak arrives. I don’t want to be worried 
with business matters then. Here are fifteen dol- 
lars;” he passed her three bills. “Now, let me 
have the ticket in exchange.” 

She handed it to him reluctantly. 

“ Ahem ! In future, if you wish to dispose of 
jewels, let me be your pawnbroker. I feel now 
that I have qualified myself as a rival of your friend, 
Jacob.” 

The steak was placed on the table, and Toni 
beamed across it at her grandfather. 

“Grandfather, you are perfectly scrumptious! 
You are adorable! ” 

Immediately after they had finished their lunch- 
eon, they went on their shopping-tour. With 
twenty-five dollars in her purse, Toni allowed her- 
self to be extravagant ; so they were laden with par- 
cels by the time they were ready to go to the station. 


AN ADVENTURE 


169 


Grandfather had suggested having the things sent, 
but Toni insisted on taking them with her. 

“ When I buy Christmas presents, I want to 
hug them, and keep them near me. I want to put 
love into them as soon as I have bought them,” she 
explained in excited tones. 

So he tucked his cane under his arm, and bur- 
dened himself with bundles, as he followed in her 
wake from store to store, until he looked like a rela- 
tive of Santa Claus. 

Toni would have shopped indefinitely, for it 
seemed impossible to spend all her money; but at 
half -past four. Grandfather insisted on calling a 
cab and driving to the station. 

“ You can come back another time,” he said, 
when she protested that she hadn’t bought half the 
things she wanted. 

They returned to Peacedale in the parlor-car, 
and Toni gazed blissfully at the mountain of pack- 
ages which rose from the floor beside her chair. 

“ I feel like the princess in a fairy-tale, and you 
are a good, fur-coated genie. I have the loveliest 
Christmassy sort of feeling in my heart, — peace, 
good-will, and all that sort of thing. Don’t you 
feel glowy, too, Grandfather? ” 

He smiled at her eager face. A little glow was 
kindled in his heart among the wreckage of hopes. 


170 


RAINBOW GOLD 


lost dreams, and frustrated desires piled there by 
the wind and storm of many years. The little fire 
of driftwood, lighted by love, burned feebly, but it 
gave out a ray of cheer over the desolate shore of 
the old man’s life. 


CHAPTER XIII 
A CHRISTMAS ENTERTAINMENT 

When NTovember made way for hoary Decem- 
ber, Peacedale began to get ready for the Christmas 
entertainment which was given annually in the 
lodge meeting-room over the fire-hall. The days 
slipped by in busy preparations, and at last the fate- 
ful night, the twenty-second, arrived; a night of joy 
and nervous thrills for fond parents, who looked, 
listened, and marveled at the talent displayed by 
their progeny. 

The hall was decorated with evergreens and flags. 
George Washington’s picture was encircled with a 
wreath made of ground-pine, with cranberries sewn 
on amongst the feathery green. A crushed cran- 
berry, which had torn itself away from the restrain- 
ing thread, now rested in a semi-dried condition 
just over Washington’s nose, and the Father of his 
Country appeared to be suffering with a ripe car- 
buncle. 

The high-backed chair, upholstered with a green- 
and-yellow corduroy, had been removed from the 
centre of the platform to the lower corner at the 
171 


172 


RAINBOW GOLD 


left. On the opposite side was an upright piano 
which Porky Thompson had lent for the occasion, 
his daughter Florence being one of the performers. 
Porky was in the front row with Mrs. Porky. He 
smiled and sat expansively, and Mrs. Porky 
twitched nervously, as she worried about the “ joo- 
ett ” Florence was to play with Ethel Ashby. 

Jim Trefethen was chairman, and his lanky form 
was almost lost in the gorgeous cavern of the chair 
he occupied. 

The clock on the wall at the other end of the room 
struck eight, and the audience looked up expect- 
antly at Jim. Some boys in the rear began to clap 
and stamp. Giving a preliminary cough, Jim 
stood up. 

“ Ladies and Gentlemen: It gives me real pleas- 
ure to perform the office of chairman for this enter- 
tainment, for I firmly believe that I am introducing 
an array of talent that might be called a galaxy of 
stars. I also feel great pleasure in having a chance 
to sit in this chair, which is usually honored with the 
weight of our friend, the president of the lodge, Mr. 
William Thompson, who runs the best meat-store 
in the State of Maine.” (Applause.) 

Jim picked up a written sheet of paper from the 
small table beside the chair and continued: 

“ The first number on the program is ‘ Selec- 


A CHRISTMAS ENTERTAINMENT 173 


tions,’ by the Orpheus Quartette of Peacedale: 
same quartette being Charley Davis [Applause], 
Mickey Lewis [Applause], Sam Turnbull [Ap- 
plause], and Tom Donovan [Applause]. These 
Orpheus — Orpheuses — or, I guess I’d better call 
’em Orphans, are a fine bunch of boys ; and while I 
leave you all free to form your own estimation of 
their singing, I feel it my duty to warn all the girls 
to keep their hearts firmly anchored, else they’ll be 
in danger of drifting towards this platform; and, as 
there are only four Orphans, they being a quartette, 
some hearts might get stepped on.” 

The “ Orphans ” mounted the platform with 
sheepish blushes, awkward gait, and four mando- 
lins. They seated themselves in a row, solemnly 
facing the audience, and began a medley of popular 
songs which they tinkled and twanged to a grand 
finale of “ Yankee Doodle.” There was wild ap- 
plause. 

They stood up and laid their mandolins on the 
chairs. Each youth clung to a buttonhole of his 
vest. For a few seconds they looked as if they were 
going to whistle, but they opened their mouths in 
various shapes and sang. Charley Davis’s mouth 
looked like the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky; Sam 
Turnbull’s lips formed a triangle; Mickey Lewis 
vocalized through an oval aperture; and Tom Don- 


174 


RAINBOW GOLD 


ovan’s rolling bass boomed through a horizontal slit. 
“ Stars of the Summer Night ” was beautifully 
done, after which they sang all about “ Seeing 
Nellie Home.” 

Every one applauded as they picked up their 
mandolins and stumbled from the platform. Jim 
put the chairs aside. 

“ I’d like a few volunteers from the front to help 
sweep up these hearts,” he remarked; and the four 
“ Orphans ” blushed again, while several maidens 
tittered. 

Little Mollie Andrews, with petticoats starched 
and stiffened until they flared out like ballet skirts, 
and hair frizzed like a Circassian, was “ the next 
thing on the program.” With a cheerful, piping 
voice she recited a heart-rending accoimt of “ The 
Wreck of the Mary Ann,” in which all souls on 
board, including a brave little stowaway, perished. 
Being encored most vociferously, she flaunted her 
skirts and gave the audience the happy information 
that “ Little Willie’s playing Harps among the 
Angels Now.” It being inferred that Little Willie 
and the unnamed stowaway were one and the same, 
the audience rejoiced to learn that his death in the 
briny deep had resulted in his becoming a celestial 
musician. 

Jim stood up again and read: “ The next is a 


A CHRISTMAS ENTERTAINMENT 175 


song by Miss Eva Anderson. Eva has singing 
lessons in Portland, and I hear that Tetrazzini is 
going out of the singing business. Can’t stand the 
competition now that Eva’s coming out. Oh, er — 
the name of the song is, ‘ Du hist wie eine Blume.’ 
That’s German; and I asked Eva what it meant. 
Now, my memory’s a bit weak on German, but I 
have a kind of lingering in my mind that " du hist 
wie eine hlume " is Dutch for ‘ You’re a daisy.’ 
The accompaniment will be played by ^liss Flor- 
ence Thompson, a young lady who contributes 
much talent to the pride of Peacedale.” 

Eva’s encore was “ Star of My Heart.” Jim 
facetiously remarked that Eva’s heart must be like a 
firmament; and he dared the star she was referring 
to in her song — the fixed star — to stand up. 

“ Twinkle, twinkle, little star! ” called out Teddy 
Hale. 

“ Mr. Basil Hastings will now favor us with 
piano selections; three pieces, which alone will be 
worth the price of your tickets,” announced Jim. 
“ The first piece is called ‘ Butterfly Ee-tood ’ ; the 
second is a ‘ Ballad in a flat,’ which I suppose is an 
imitation of some one singing a song in one of those 
flat-houses in New York, where folks live in a heap 

like ants. The third piece is — ‘ Pa — Pas ’ 

Well, I just can’t make out the name, but, whatever 


176 RAINBOW GOLD 

it is, it’ll be worth hearing.” Jim sat down, visibly 
relieved. 

Basil mounted the steps and carefully propped 
his crutch against a chair near the piano. 

“ Land’s sakes! he’s forgot to bring his music! ” 
said Mrs. Porky in a shrill whisper; and a respon- 
sive “ Oh! ” of sympathy echoed over the room. 

Basil smiled and began Chopin’s “ Butterfly 
Etude.” It seemed as if gauzy-winged butterflies 
were fluttering through the air; butterflies of all 
colors, — dainty, iris-hued visions. 

“Play it again! Again! Encore!” called out 
the audience, when he paused at the end. He com- 
plied; and then came the well-known “ Ballade in 
A-flat.” 

Porky Thompson was like a martyr stretched on 
a rack when Basil played the fortissimo passages. 

“ Susie,” he whispered to his wife, “ that piano 
ain’t going to stand treatment of that sort. The 
boy’ll be banging the insides out of it in a min- 
ute!” 

However, the piano bore up bravely and reached 
the brilliant end of the Ballade without collapsing. 
When the applause had died down Basil rattled 
through Gottschalk’s “ Pasquinade.” They all 
liked that, and they wouldn’t let him leave the piano 
until he had finished it for the third time. 


A CHRISTMAS ENTERTAINMENT 177 


“Try it again, boy I” called Porky Thompson, 
completely carried away with enthusiasm. “ Them 
strings will stand it.” 

“ Our well-known and highly-esteemed friend, 
Mr. Mickey Lewis, will now favor us with a recita- 
tion, ‘ The Charge of the Light Brigade,’ ” read 
Jim. 

The boys cheered, stamped, and clapped as the 
blushing Mickey, whose face bore a strong resem- 
blance to that of a monkey, ascended the steps. He 
faced the audience manfully, both hands thrust into 
his coat-pockets. 

“ Give it to ’em, Mickey,” advised Jim when the 
noise had subsided. 

It was a tragical-comical effort, for Mickey, with 
his funny ugly face, should never have attempted 
anything serious. The risibilities of his boy friends 
were stirred up to the point of ridicule by the time 
he reached the end of the first stanza, but Mickey 
stood by his guns and charged nobly against the 
jeering comments of the enemy. Every time he 
paused for breath the boys would hoot and yell: 
“ Go it, Mickey ! ” — “ Shoot ’em down ! ” — “ Colonel 
Mickey Lewis.” — “ Mickey the Martyr.” — “ Lis- 
ten to our Special War Correspondent! ” 

“ * Cannon to right of them,’ ” declaimed Mickey. 

“ Bang! ” yelled the boys. 


178 


RAINBOW GOLD 


“Look out, Mickey, you’ll get shot I” shouted 
some one. 

“ ‘ Cannon to left of them.’ ” 

“ Bang, hang, bang I ” they yelled. 

Mickey shook his fist at his tormentors: “ ‘ Can- 
non behind them.’ ” 

“ Bow-wow-wow- wow! meow-meow — ssisst! ” 
volleyed and thundered the back row. 

“ ‘ Stormed at with shot and shell,’ ” Mickey 
continued; and rode on with the noble Six Hundred 
to the very end. 

The cheers and cat-calls were deafening. Mickey 
remained on the platform, looking so solemn that a 
hush fell over the room, and every one looked up 
with a half -shamed expectancy. A good-natured 
smile shone over his ugly face, and he gave his cele- 
brated imitation of a monkey, returning to his seat 
while the audience applauded rapturously. 

“ You’re all right, Mickey,” said Jim. “ You’ve 
got the spunk of the Six Hundred in you; and as 
long as you can twist your face so that you look as 
if Adam and Eve’s grandparents might have been 
monkeys, your glory will never fade in Peacedale.” 

Percy Plantagenet Potts followed with a vocal 
solo. Percy was a delicate boy of nine, the son of 
the burly blacksmith of Peacedale. In her youth- 
ful days Percy’s mother had admired a hero in a 


A CHRISTMAS ENTERTAINMENT 179 


novel which had given her maiden heart many a 
throb; and years afterwards she had bestowed his 
name, Percy Plantagenet, on her frail offspring. 
Percy was a fair, weak-eyed boy, and wore spec- 
tacles with lenses that gave him the appearance 
of looking through two plate -glass windows. 
His eyes were blue and bulgy, and the eyelids 
looked as if they had been buttonholed with pink 
silk. To-night his hair was “ slicked down ” with 
much oil and energetic brushing; but one refractory 
lock, a veritable “ cowlick,” persisted in standing on 
end on the crown of his head. 

When Percy went up on the platform, his ador- 
ing mother looked up with the rapt expression of a 
saint engaged in prayer. Big, brawny Tom Potts 
tried to bury his face in his flannel collar, and per- 
spired as if he were working over his forge. 

Percy’s song was a romantic ditty, one of his 
mother’s favorites in her girlhood. Florence 
Thompson nervously tinkled out the introductory 
measures, and Percy chimed in, only four notes be- 
hind. However, Florence obligingly waited at the 
end of the sixth measure until he caught up. 

Percy warbled: 

“You said good-by, the parting words were spoken. 

I leave you now, perhaps ’tis better so. 

I give you back each tender, loving token, 

And far across the seas now I will go. 


180 


KAINBOW GOLD 


Call me backa — gain, 

Call me backa — gain ; 

Ah! when your love has conquered pri — dan — 
dangger, 

I know that you will call me backa — gain.” 

They called him back again, and he sang with 
much sentiment, “Wait till the Clouds Roll by, 
Jennie.” 

“Now we draw a prize!” proclaimed Jim. 
“ Duet, ‘ Annie Laurie ’ with variations, played by 
Miss Florence Thompson and Miss Ethel Ashby.” 

Under the guidance of Ethel, Annie Laurie 
tripped lightly over the bass and justified the poet’s 
description of her footfall; for it was “ like dew on 
gowan lying.” Then she skimmed up to the treble, 
where Florence seized her and whirled her about 
until she was breathless and dizzy. Panic-stricken, 
the unfortunate Annie sought refuge in the bass, 
where she wailed and moaned in a minor key. 
After that the two girls played a tug-of-war with 
their victim. Florence pulled her up, Ethel pulled 
her down ; and when they had succeeded in stretch- 
ing her out the full length of the keyboard, they 
hammered at her with octaves. Finally she disap- 
peared altogether beneath an avalanche of crash- 
ing chords. Then, at an unexpected moment, she 
turned up in a mutilated condition in the deepest 
depths of the bass. Florence hauled her out and 


A CHRISTMAS ENTERTAINMENT 181 


strangled her with arpeggios. With a wild shriek 
of trills, Annie Laurie made one weak effort to 
elude her captors. They chased her up and down the 
piano until they seized her in the neighborhood of 
middle C. They proceeded to crush the life out of 
her with fortissimo chords, and at length, with a 
wild scream, she expired on the topmost note of the 
treble. Two loud chords in the bass silenced her 
forever. 

“ Susie,” Porky Thompson whispered again to 
his wife, “ our Floss got just about as much noise 
out of that machine as young Hastings did.” 

Jim stood up. “ The next is a song by Miss Ida 
Lemon of Portland, who is visiting friends in 
Peacedale.” 

Miss Lemon was a pretty brunette, and sang two 
songs with engaging charm. 

When the applause for her encore had ended, 
Jim said in his whimsical way: “ Hitherto apples 
have been my favorite fruit; but I must say that 
Miss Ida is the sweetest lemon I have ever seen.” 

“ Wouldn’t you like to be a squeezer? ” called out 
Teddy Hale. 

Several children appeared in songs, recitations, 
and tableaux, after which the concert ended with 
“ Just a Song at Twilight,” sung by the Orpheus 
Quartette. Then Jim announced that the receipts 


182 


RAINBOW GOLD 


for the evening amounted to twenty-four dollars 
and sixty-five cents, and would be expended in 
books for the library at the Academy. 

“ And now,” he added, “ I want to thank all our 
artists for having given their services, and also the 
audience for their kind attention and appreciation.” 

Every one was happy and all the parents were 
proud; but perhaps the proudest, happiest woman 
in the room was Ma when her tall husband joined 
her and said, “ By gum! I’m glad that’s over! ” 


CHAPTER XIV 
TONI KNITS A DEEAM-STOCKING 

The day after Toni’s visit to the pawnbroker, 
Jacob Seiffertitz, Mr. Hastings had sent for Cecily 
and Basil to come to him in his study. 

When Cecily returned to her bedroom where she 
had left Toni, her cheeks were aflame, and her eyes 
were shining with joyful excitement. 

“ He’s wonderful ! ” she cried. “ He’s a wax 
angel ! Just see what he has given me I ” She 
waved two bright, new bills in the air. “ And Basil 
has the same.” 

Toni’s eyes widened and her mouth opened with 
astonishment. 

“We went to the study,” continued Cecily, 
“ with tear and frembling — I mean fear and trem- 
bling; and he was perfectly dear. He said that we 
were all to have an allowance; two-fifty a month. 
And he gave us each fifteen dollars, back dues and 
some in advance. When we tried to thank him he 
became quite nasty, and changed from an angel into 
a demon. In fact, he almost ordered us out of the 
183 


184 


RAINBOW GOLD 


room. Told us to be off . But never mind ! Now 
I can do some Christmas shopping! ” She whirled 
about the room. 

Toni clasped her hands. “ We’ll all go over to 
Portland together; you, Basil, and I. We can take 
a car from the station and Basil can manage to walk 
about the stores. Oh, joy! I haven’t done half 
my shopping. I have to get some more reed to fin- 
ish making those baskets; but I don’t intend to 
make the fudge for filling them until the last mo- 
ment, as I want it to be perfectly fresh.” 

“ And we must put in some duts and nates with 
the fudge — I mean nuts and dates,” went on Cecily. 
“ Now I am going to make a list of the presents I 
intend to buy.” 

Two days before Christmas, Toni went to the 
kitchen to make the fudge. 

“ Not that I hold with folks messing in the 
kitchen where they don’t belong,” observed Delia. 
“ But you ain’t been much trouble since you come 
here, so I guess I don’t mind.” 

“ Now wish me luck, Delia! ” cried Toni, as she 
began to mix the ingredients. “ Are you going to 
hang up your stocking, Delia? ” she asked pres- 
ently. 

“No, I can’t abide such foolishness. If the 
Lord intends to open the hearts of folks so that 


TONI KNITS A DREAM-STOCKING 185 


they’ll give you a present, He’ll do it without being 
reminded by seeing your stocking hanging up. The 
old gentleman, meaning your grandfather, always 
gives me a ten-dollar bill ; and the two ladies, mean- 
ing your aunts, gives me money, too. That’s the 
presents I always get.” 

“ What does your sweetheart give you? ” Toni’s 
eyes twinkled. 

Delia grunted. “ Sweetheart! As my ma said 
with her last breath, ‘ Men are a trial and a tribula- 
tion whichever way you take them.’ And the 
woman who has to do with a man will wear a hollow 
cheek and an empty heart ; for the Lord did say out 
of the abundance of His heart: ‘ All men are liars.* 
That being a solemn warning to women to beware 
of sweethearts and husbands. For men, especially 
when they’re husbands, will turn again and rend 
you, and are always trying to the flesh of them that 
has to deal with them. And the Lord being willing 
to stand by His words, has forbidden marrying in 
Heaven. So by not marrying myself, it seems like 
as if I’m helping the Lord’s idea of heaven down 
here. For how can a woman be an angel, as the 
Lord intended her to be, if she has a man to deal 
with? ” 

The bulwarks of Delia’s silence were swept away 
by a torrent of conversation when “ Man ” formed 


186 


RAINBOW GOLD 


the subject. Toni began to beat the frothy mix- 
ture and listened with avid enjoyment to Delia’s 
unaccustomed loquacity. 

“ What is a man? ” continued Delia, warming 
up. “A trouble to some woman from the day he 
is born until the day his widow lays him for good 
and all in the grave. A crape veil, for all it looks 
so gloomy, is a flag of freedom. The reason angels 
in heaven are angels is that there ain’t any men up 
there, spillin’ ashes from their pipes, and droppin’ 
burnt matches all over the place, and forgettin’ to 
wipe their muddy shoes. There’s no sense in men, 
unless it’s nonsense; for men are, indeed, but con- 
tradictionary creatures; and a man around the 
house is a determinated nuisance. No wedding 
bells for me ! ” 

Delia delivered the final sentence with an atti- 
tude of defiance, as if she were holding at bay hosts 
of imploring suitors. She relapsed into silence, 
and Toni continued to beat the fudge, which began 
to assume a thick, creamy consistency. 

“ I met Mandy Fly in the post-office yesterday,” 
Delia presently began. “ She’s ’most as bad as any 
man! And she says how our cat ain’t pure Per- 
sian. Pure Persian, indeed! I just up and told 
her that the Lord knew what He was doing when 
He made our cat, even if He did do it without her 


TONI KNITS A DREAM-STOCKING 187 


help; and it was pure Persian, for there warn’t 
nothing wrong with its purr. Our cat can purr as 
well as any cat I ever knew. Pure Persian I ” 

Toni laughed as she poured the fudge into several 
pans and set it to cool on a shelf in the pantry. She 
then went up-stairs to tie up some of her Christmas 
parcels. 

The children had seen little of their grandfather 
since the day he had given Cecily and Basil their 
allowance. Occasionally he joined them at the 
table, but at such times his manner was austere and 
forbidding, and he usually had his meals sent to his 
study. They met him a few times when he was 
taking his customary stroll in the garden, but their 
greetings elicited only surly responses from him. 

Toni ventured into his study that afternoon, and 
requested permission to have Caesar Silas cut down 
a tree in the Hastings woods. 

“ Tree? What for? ” snarled Grandfather, look- 
ing up from his writing. 

“ A Christmas tree! And Aunt Olivia says we 
may put it up in that small parlor leading off the 
living-room. It won’t be in any one’s way there, 
and won’t upset the house at all.” 

“Bah! Christmas tree! You’re too old for 
such mummery. Christmas trees are for babies. 
Tommy rot! ” 


188 


RAINBOW GOLD 


“ Too old ! ” echoed Toni. “ Why, no, Grand- 
father! No one is too old for a Christmas tree. 
Now, do say yes; because there is going to be some- 
thing on the tree for you. For, of course, you are 
coming to the party.” 

“ I don’t want my trees cut down. It will spoil 
the woods,” he replied. 

“ Csesar Silas says that the far corner of the 
wood-lot needs thinning; and we have selected the 
dearest tree! Oh, do say yes! And you’ll realize 
that you aren’t too old for Christmas trees when the 
wonderful night arrives.” 

He looked up at her pleading face. There was 
something irresistible about Toni’s coaxing. 

“ Parlor off the living-room, eh? ” He rubbed 
his spectacles. 

“ Yes. We thought of that room because Aunt 
Priscilla couldn’t go up-stairs.” 

“ Ahem! Well, have your tree there then; and 
be off! Don’t bother me with any more childish- 
ness.” He frowned and resumed his writing. 

“ Thank you, Grandfather,” said Toni meekly, 
and she tiptoed out of the room. 

That night the girls finished wrapping and tying 
up their presents. Basil was down-stairs in Aunt 
Priscilla’s room, reading aloud to the two aunts. 

“ There! the last one! ” Cecily cut the red cord. 


TONI KNITS A DREAM-STOCKING 189 

Their beds were littered with packages, a few of 
which were wrapped and stamped for mailing. 
The others were done up in white tissue-paper 
and tied with holly ribbon. On the table were 
letters and cards. Cecily gathered them in a neat 
pile. 

“ IVe written all my Christmas letters and cards! 
Have you, Toni? ” 

“ All but Dad’s ; and I’m going to write that 
now,” was Toni’s response as she searched for the 
scissors. 

“ I put my letter to Dad in with the box of pres- 
ents. Now I’m going down-stairs to Aunt Pris- 
cilla’s room, to hear some of Stevenson’s ‘ Silverado 
Squatters.’ Come down when you’re finished.” 
Cecily left the room. 

Toni took a sheet of thick red paper, one side of 
which was white. She carefully cut out the pattern 
of a stocking and proceeded to write on the under- 
side. Her fingers were bruised and badly 
scratched, and there were smudges of resin on her 
hands ; for the previous evening she had assisted in 
decorating St. Stephen’s church for the Christmas 
services. 

This paper stocking was a quaint little conceit of 
her own, her Christmas letter to her father so far 
away. She began at the top with unusually neat 


190 RAINBOW GOLD 

penmanship, and wrote on until she reached the toe 
without a blot. 

Dear old Daddy: 

This is your Christmas stocking, filled from 
toe to hiee with the love of Toni. When you 
glance inside, look “ not with the eyes but with the 
mind,” because it is a dream-stocking. 

First comes a Box of Kisses, Toni-twolips fiavor; 
guaranteed by the pure love and heart act. 

Second, a Bundle of Hugs, wrapped in soft 
little squeezes and firmly sealed with loving pinches. 

Third, a magic Bag o’ Dreams. It is made of a 
rainbow, and the contents are inexhaustible. Many 
of the Dreams contain prizes; golden Hopes. If 
these Hopes should ever become tarnished (they 
sometimes do) , put them back into the rainbow bag 
for a while, and they will shine again like golden 
stars. 

In all the little corners and spaces of the stocking 
are loving thoughts and wishes, like loose beads 
scattered everywhere. Draw a rainbow thread 
from the bag and string these beads for a charm. It 
will banish loneliness from your heart and give you 
good cheer. 

Now you have reached the heel. A wonderful 
jewel-box is here, filled with most precious jewels — 
memories. 

And here, right at the end of the stocking, is the 
heart of 


Toni. 


CHAPTER XV 

‘‘AND SO, AS TINY TIM OBSERVED, 

‘GOD BLESS US EVERY ONE! ' 

On the morning before Christmas Day, Caesar 
Silas brought in the tree and placed it in the bay- 
window of the parlor which adjoined the living- 
room. The three young people spent most of the 
afternoon in decorating the tree and arranging the 
presents in piles on the floor, at the base of the 
sturdy hemlock. 

Toni put some pine boughs and dried chestnut- 
burrs in the grate, where a huge log was laid, ready 
for the fire that evening. 

“ I do hope Grandfather will be nice and join us 
to-night,” she remarked, as she flicked her hands 
together, trying to rub off some resinous pine- 
needles. 

“Aunt Priscilla is quite excited over the tree; 
and even Aunt Olivia is warming up a little,” said 
Basil. 

“ Delia is becoming positively talkative,” laughed 
191 


192 


RAINBOW GOLD 


Toni. “ And Csesar Silas condescended to ex-, 
change a few remarks with me this morning.” 

The tree being finished, Basil went up -stairs to 
practise, and the girls went out to deliver their gifts. 
They left a parcel with Ma, giving her strict in- 
junctions that it was not to be opened until the fol- 
lowing morning. They also gave Ma a present for 
poor Rachel Lee, whom Ma always had with her 
on Christmas Day. 

“ I just couldn’t relish my dinner, thinking of 
that poor creature sitting by herself,” Ma told the 
girls. “ So I coax her over here, and after dinner 
is done, Jim plays the three hymns he knows over 
and over on the organ. The poor soul seems to 
like that.” 

At the rectory Cecily left a book for her friend 
Kathryn, and one of the baskets filled with tooth- 
some dainties. They then distributed simple gifts 
among all those who had shown them any kindness 
since they came to Peacedale. These gifts con- 
sisted of the reed baskets they had made and dyed, 
filled with fudge, nuts, dates, and raisins, with 
cards of merry greeting tied on with bright rib- 
bons. 

When they first started on their rounds, they 
passed Jim, driving his big sleigh. Mickey Lewis 
and Charley Davis were with him, and stood up in 


AS TINY TIM OBSERVED 193 

the sleigh, supporting a huge object covered with 
canvas. 

“ I’m moving a house,” called out Jim; and he 
urged Polly Feemus to “ get along.” 

It was dusk when they returned home. The liv- 
ing-room was cheery with dancing firelight and 
the steady glow of the lamp on the supper-table. 
Aunt Priscilla sat near the fire. 

“ Humph! Your grandfather said you were to 
go to his study as soon as you came in. Basil is 
there.” 

They entered the study and saw three forms bent 
over one of Mr. Hastings’s cabinets. 

Toni gave a joyful cry. “Lex! Lex!” 

“We thought you wouldn’t be able to come until 
to-morrow! ” added Cecily in pleased tones. 

Lex was flushed and happy. “ Mr. Hastings 
has been a sort of fairy-godfather. He drove out 
to Barber’s farm this afternoon and managed in 
some wonderful way to have me set free. So here 
I am for a holiday of three days.” 

“ Hurray ! ” cheered Toni. 

When supper was finished, they all went into the 
room of mystery, as Toni called the small parlor. 
Delia and her father also came in from the kitchen 
to receive their presents from the tree. 

Toni and Lex went into the room first, in order 


194 


RAINBOW GOLD 


to light the candles. A rapturous cry from Toni 
made Cecily and Basil tingle with impatience until 
the word came from Lex that they might enter. 
Something — big, black, and shiny, stood in one cor- 
ner of the room near the window. Cecily gave a 
little squeal of delight, and Basil almost dropped 
his crutch on the floor. 

“ That is what Jim had on his sleigh this after- 
noon, when he said he was moving a house ! ” ex- 
claimed Cecily. 

“ It’s a Steinway ! Oh, Grandfather ! ” cried 
Basil. 

Their joyful exclamations of thanks seemed to 
irritate the old man, who “ boshed ” and “ bahed ” 
all their speeches; and they were wise enough to 
express their gratitude by means of smiling faces 
and sparkling eyes. 

Aunt Priscilla suggested that Basil should play 
something, for she saw that the boy was aching to 
touch the gleaming ivory keys. He sat down at 
once and began the old Christmas carol, “ God rest 
ye. Merry Gentlemen.” Lex and the two girls 
sang, and presently Aunt Olivia joined with a sweet 
contralto. 

“ Humph! ” grunted Aunt Priscilla at the end. 
“You still have some voice left, Olivia, though it’s 
many a year since I heard you sing.” 


AS TINY TIM OBSERVED 195 


Then they sang some rollicking songs, and Toni 
capered about the room in a frenzy of joy. Grand- 
father and the two aunts were rather bewildered at 
the mirth and frivolity of the young people. 

Caesar Silas, having refused a seat, stood like a 
mute at a funeral. His “ Much obliged ” was ut- 
tered in gloomy accents, so that Toni afterwards 
declared he spoke as a voice from the tomb. Delia 
was equally stolid and forbidding, but the splendor 
of her bright green velvet dress belied the solemnity 
of her manner. To be sure, the dress was old and 
had shed its pile in sundry places, but its hue 
was intensely vivid, and a bunch of artificial roses 
added a striking touch of red to the verdant back- 
ground. 

There were gifts for every one: packages of all 
shapes and sizes, wrapped in white and in holly 
paper, all mysterious and bearing the official seal of 
Santa Claus, with the regulation command, “ Do 
not open until Christmas morning.” 

Toni was able to guess at the contents of one par- 
cel which fell to her share, for the accompanying 
card bore an inscription — “ Greetings from Jacob 
Seiffertitz.” How dear and thoughtful of Grand- 
father to redeem the things she had pawned and to 
return them to her in this way! 

“ Of course it is against the rules of Christmas- 


196 


RAINBOW GOLD 


tide to open the presents to-night,” proclaimed Cec- 
ily. “We must keep them until morning, so that 
the day will begin with a real Christmas ziz, as Toni 
calls it.” 

“ The night before Christmas is the magic time,” 
said Toni. “ There is a wonderful sense of antici- 
pation then. Christmas Day itself is rather flat, 
I think. It is usually a day of depression and in- 
digestion.” 

After the two servants had left the room, Toni 
suddenly realized that Grandfather had omitted his 
customary after-supper smoke. 

“ Oh, Grandfather, your pipe! How stupid of 
me ! ” And she rushed off to his study for his pipe 
and the jar of tobacco. 

“There!” she exclaimed when the pipe was 
lighted and little curls of smoke fluttered and faded 
over Grandfather’s head. “ Now, everybody settle 
down cozily, for we are going to cast a spell of 
Christmas enchantment over you all. This is the 
chief part of the party, and is our old-time observ- 
ance of Christmas Eve. Turn out all the lights but 
this shaded reading-lamp, Cecily. Lex, put an- 
other log on' the fire. I’m going to pull up the 
blinds. It is a wonderful night outside, all aglitter 
with stars and frosty moonlight. A real Christmas 
Eve, a holy night ! ” 


AS TINY TIM OBSERVED 197 


Soon everything was arranged as she sug- 
gested. The shade on the lamp was turned so that 
the glow was concentrated on the pages of an 
open hook lying on the table; and the room was 
lighted only by the fitful flickering of the fire 
and streams of silvery moonlight from the win- 
dows. 

“ Now the stage is set. Begin, Basil,” said Toni, 
as she seated herself on a stool near Cecily’s chair. 

Basil smiled and leaned over the open book as he 
began: “ Marley was dead, to begin with. There 
was no doubt whatever about that.” 

The boy read on and on, with an untiring voice, 
the tender, whimsical story of Scrooge: the dearest, 
sweetest Christmas story ever written, “A Christ- 
mas Carol.” 

The flames leapt up with a joyous crackle, and 
sent little flutters of light over the wreaths of holly, 
making them shine as if the indefatigable Delia had 
polished each leaf and berry separately. In a dim 
corner of the room lurked a mysterious shimmer of 
moonlight, which looked weird enough to be the 
ghost of Marley himself. 

Through the windows could be seen glimpses of 
snow, brilliant with silvery radiance. Above the 
trees the deep purple sky was spangled with stars, 
as the Eastern sky must have been long ago, when 


198 


RAINBOW GOLD 


angels appeared to the shepherds who watched in 
the fields by night. 

Sometimes passing sleighs made the air sing with 
a joyous sound of bells, a real Christmas jingle. 
The ocean boomed and rolled like a majestic organ 
in the cathedral of the world. 

Other spirits than those mentioned in the story 
wandered into the room and drifted into the hearts 
where they belonged: the French ’Toinette, the 
children’s mother; Lex’s mother; and others whose 
memories were vague and dreamy, like the faint, 
half -forgotten perfume of flowers that had blos- 
somed and faded long ago. 

Far away in a prison cell sat a lonely man, gazing 
through the high window whieh formed a frame for 
a square of starry sky. On a small shelf -like table 
beside him were a few books, some sprays of holly, 
and some open letters; but the man held in his 
fingers a quaint little paper stocking, Toni’s Christ- 
mas letter. His thoughts bridged the weary dis- 
tance that separated him from his children, and he 
joined the little band of memory-ghosts gathered 
about the fireside far away. 

And all the world over, wherever the spirit of 
Christmas cheer dwells, wherever hearts thrill and 
glow with a universal love that springs from peace 
and good-will towards all men, there were echoes 


AS TINY TIM OBSERVED 199 


and reechoes of Tiny Tim’s prayer. In many 
hearts the little prayer included the beloved memory 
of Charles Dickens. 

“And so, as Tiny Tim observed, ' God Bless Us, 
Every One!""* 


CHAPTER XVI 


LIFE DAKKENS 

It was a bleak January afternoon, with a dense 
fog drifting in from the sea. Cecily, Toni, and 
Kathryn Lindsay were pulling their sleds up Brim- 
son’s hill, which afforded the best place in Peacedale 
for coasting. The road began in front of Brim- 
son’s house and made a wide, sweeping curve around 
the corner, where Sawyer’s general store stood at 
the foot of the hill. 

A few girls and boys were gathered at the top, 
and Teddy Hale came swooping dovm with loud 
shouts of warning to the three girls, who stood aside 
as he flashed by. 

“ There aren’t many coasting to-day,” observed 
Cecily, as she paused to mop her eyes and nose with 
a handkerchief. “ I really shouldn’t have come out 
myself, for I have a horrid, sniffly cold coming on.” 

On reaching the summit they found the girls and 
boys talking together in a group. 

“ Hello! ” called Kathryn and Toni; but their in- 
formal salutation met with sickly smiles from the 
200 


LIFE DARKENS 


201 


girls. The boys, with embarrassed faces, came 
back to their sleds* 

“Girls make me tired!” ejaculated Bobby 
Sterling. “ Come on, Toni; let’s have a bob to- 
gether.” 

“ Suppose we have one great, long bob, the whole 
crowd of us,” suggested Toni. And she called to 
the others, “ Come, girls, for a glorious ride to- 
gether! ” 

They shook their heads. lola Burtis turned her 
back and began to talk excitedly. Florence 
Thompson started towards Toni; and then, after a 
moment’s hesitation, turned and, walked slowly 
down the hill with her sled. Kathryn made a funny 
little grimace and began to hitch her sled to 
Toni’s. By this time Teddy Hale had ascended 
the hill. He cast a glance of scorn towards the 
group. 

“ What is the matter with the girls? ” asked Toni. 

“ Yes,” added Kathryn. “ They look at us as 
if we were outcasts. What is wrong? ” 

“ I’d like to wash lola Burtis’s face with snow,” 
observed Billy Talbot. “ I’d like to wring her 
neck — the conceited little popinjay!” 

He tied his sled to Cecily’s with an extra knot, 
giving the cord such a strenuous twist that he 
seemed to be carrying out his desire to wreak dam- 


202 


RAINBOW GOLD 


age to the fair pedestal on which lola’s pretty, 
empty head rested. 

“ Girls make me tired,” repeated Bobby with 
disgust. 

“ On behalf of girls, let me thank you for your 
delightfully expressed sentiments,” said Toni with 
a merry laugh, as she sat on her sled behind 
Bobby’s. 

Before Teddy gave the final push that sent the 
bob skimming down the hill, he called out in derisive 
tones: “ Chase yourselves home, girls! Ask your 
mothers to rock you to sleep.” 

When they returned for another descent the girls 
had left. 

“Suffering cats!” exclaimed Teddy. “I’m 
glad they’ve gone. The day is cold enough with- 
out having their frosty faces before us.” 

“ What can have happened? ” questioned Cecily. 
“ They didn’t act in that queer way at school. Do 
you know what it is? ” she asked, turning to the 
boys. 

Bobby became intensely interested in making a 
snowball, which he hurled with all his strength at 
a neighboring tree. 

Teddy looked at Billy. “ Well,” he began in an 
abasihed way, “ it’s some crazy notion lola has in 
her noddle. She’s a silly little cuckoo.” 


LIFE DARKENS 


203 


“Aw, come on; let’s forget it,” advised Billy; and 
they wisely did as he suggested. 

The next morning, when Kathryn reached the 
Academy, she found lola Burtis holding a conclave 
in the cloak-room. Several girls were grouped 
about her, listening with awed, bewildered expres- 
sions. She spoke with an air of importance, as she 
pulled out and patted the blue bow which was 
poised in her curls, over her right ear, like an aero- 
plane caught in a tree-top. 

“How perfectly appalling!” cried Ethel 
Ashby. 

“ It’s simply disgraceful,” finished lola; and she 
pulled down the front of her belt and smoothed her 
skirt over her hips. 

Kathryn blinked through her spectacles and ap- 
proached the others. 

“ What is appalling? What is disgraceful? ” 
she inquired. 

She was greeted with a chorus of remarks and ex- 
clamations. 

“ Don’t all speak at once ! ” she cried. “ I can 
get no sense out of your gibberish. Jail? Prison? 
Thief? What are you talking about? ” 

“ It’s simply this,” snapped lola. “ Cecily and 
Toni’s father is in prison. He’s a convict! ” 

“And their name isn’t Hastings at all. It’s 


204 RAINBOW GOLD 

Hamilton,” added Florence Thompson with tearful 
eyes. 

“ Wh-wh-what are you trying to tell me? ” 
stammered Kathryn. “ You’re crazy. You’ve all 
gone dippy.” 

“ It’s absolutely true.” lola gave her head a 
scornful toss, which left her bow wobbling precari- 
ously. “ Their father is in prison.” 

“ I don’t believe it,” rejoined Kathryn bluntly. 
“ And anyway, lola Burtis, you’re a sniveling little 
sneak to spread this story about. You ought to be 
ashamed of yourself! That’s what ailed you yes- 
terday, on Brimson’s hill, wasn’t it? ” 

“ Well, I think it’s perfectly awful for Toni and 
Cecily, with all their citified clothes and ways, to 
think they can associate with respectable people like 
us.” Myrtle Toner spoke with two hairpins in her 
mouth, while she adjusted her hair. 

“ You miserable creature,” hissed Kathryn. 
“ Respectable people, indeed 1 Cecily and Toni are 
just as good as any of you, and a great sight better 
than some.” 

“ The daughters of a thief,” sneered lola. 
“ I don’t see how they dare come near honest 
folks.” 

Kathryn turned. “ I wish we were boys, lola. 
I’d smash your face for saying that! ” 


LIFE DARKENS 


205 


“ You’re a nice sort of girl for a clergyman’s 
daughter.” lola spoke with a scoffing smile. 

“A clergyman’s daughter,” repeated Kathr5m, 
and her eyes flashed sparks through her spectacles. 
“ Well, I don’t have to walk round like a haloed 
saint just because I happen to be the daughter of a 
clergyman. I’m human first. As for you, lola 
Burtis, you’re nothing but a pie-faced snip.” 

“At any rate, I’m not the daughter of a convict, 
like your friend, Cecily,” retorted lola. 

“ Oh I ” exclaimed Florence, looking towards the 
door. 

They all turned and beheld Cecily and Toni 
standing just inside. Toni’s face was pale, but 
she faced them all with a steadfast gaze. Kathryn 
rushed over to Cecily and seized her hand. 

“ Since you don’t believe us, you’d better ask 
your friends where their father is!” advised lola 
with a vinegary simper. 

“ Shut up ! ” Kathryn replied with more force 
than elegance. 

Toni slowly removed her outdoor things. “ I — 
I — heard what you said, lola, as we entered the 
room,” she began. “ It is quite true; our father 
is — in — prison. But he is innocent; and I’m as 
proud of him now as I should be if he were Presi- 
dent of the United States.” 


206 


RAINBOW GOLD 


“ Then why did you drop his name and call your- 
selves Hastings? ” j erred lola. 

“ Such outrageous deception! ” sniffed Myrtle. 

“ You must have been proud of him when you 
did that,” added lola. 

“ It is no concern of yours, you interfering cats 1 ” 
said Kathryn indignantly. 

Toni stopped her with a gesture. “We did not 
drop our father’s name because we were ashamed of 
him. When we came to live with our grandfather, 
it was his wish that we should take his name.” 

“ H’m! I guess he thought people wouldn’t get 
wise to the fact that your father was in prison. It’s 
a great thing to be proud of, I must say,” scoffed 
lola. 

Toni closed her eyes for a second, as if to shut out 
the jeering face of her tormentor. “ I don’t intend 
to discuss the matter with you any farther. You 
know my father is a convict. I know he is inno- 
cent. That is all I have to say.” She gathered up 
her books. 

“ Perhaps Cecily will speak now,” suggested lola 
with forced sweetness. 

Some of the girls giggled, and Cecily looked at 
them with tear-filled eyes. 

“ Aa-aa — chee — ^hoo ! ” sneezed Cecily, to the 
astonishment of all. “ I think you are all — 



“ \Vk did not drop our father’s name because we were 
ASHAMED OF HIM.” — Page 200. 






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LIFE DARKENS 


207 


aachoo! — very unkind — aachoo! — to make fun of 
our misfortune. It isn’t our fault! ” 

Florence Thompson unexpectedly entered the 
fray. “ Yes, Cecily is right. It is unkind! It’s 
mean — dirty mean. I like Cecily and Toni, and 
I’m not going to change because of this trouble. 
I’m with Kathryn, on their side.” 

“Just listen to Floss! Feeble Flossie has the 
floor ! ” cried lola. 

“ Speak again, Flossie ! ” urged Myrtle. 

“ Oh, eat my hat ! ” was the meek Flossie’s in- 
elegant reply. 

The gong rang for assembling the classes, and 
the meeting in the cloak-room ended abruptly. 

The morning seemed endless to Cecily and Toni. 
The sad story had evidently circulated through the 
school, thanks to the efforts of lola and Myrtle. 

“ How can we go back this afternoon and face 
them all? ” cried Cecily as they went home for 
dinner. “ The class-room this morning seemed full 
of eyes — jeering, scornful, and pitying! ” 

Toni sighed. “ You’d better stay home, Cecily. 
Your cold is getting worse all the time.” 

Cecily stamped her foot on the hard snow. 
“ Stay home and let you face it all alone? Mot 
nuch — I mean, not much ! I’m going to face it out 
with you, cold or no cold. Aa — chee — hoo ! ” 


208 


RAINBOW GOLD 


The following day her cold was much worse, but 
she insisted on accompanying Toni to school. 
They walked in with Lex, and, as they passed a 
group of boys, they overheard Fred Simmons call 
out under his breath, “ Jail-birds! ” 

Lex’s face whitened and his jaws clenched. 
“ Girls, go on to school, and take my books with 
you, please.” 

He handed them their books with his own. 

“ Oh, but Lex ” protested Toni. 

“ Oh ! blease don’d fide ! ” poor Cecily’s voice was 
a blurred whisper. 

“ Go on, please! ” insisted Lex. 

He was late for school that morning, and Fred 
did not put in an appearance until the next day. 
Lex’s shabby Norfolk jacket was torn, and there 
was a scratch on his left cheek. For several days 
Fred’s chastened demeanor and black eye were 
marveled at by all; but neither he nor Lex said any- 
thing beyond the apology which Fred blushingly 
uttered to Cecily and Toni. 

“ It was a snide thing for me to say,” said Fred, 
shuffling his feet. “And I’m sorry.” 

Cecily’s cold developed into a severe attack of 
influenza, and she was obliged to stay at home for 
two weeks under Aunt Olivia’s care. A bed was put 
up for her in her aunt’s room ; and the invalid was 


LIFE DARKENS 


209 


petted and waited upon with unfailing kindness, for 
Aunt Olivia was an ideal nurse. 

Nothing was said to Basil about their father’s 
misfortune being known in Peacedale. The girls 
kept their own counsel, and the affair was not men- 
tioned at home. Daily poor Toni armed herself 
with all the courage at her command and faced the 
glances of her schoolmates. She no longer joined 
the merry skating and coasting parties, though 
Kathryn, Florence, and the boys urged her to do 
so. Even Lex remonstrated with her. 

“ Don’t let this trouble spoil you, Toni. You’ve 
been such a brick all along. Be your own merry 
self and join the others in some fun. All the decent 
ones want you. They admire you for your courage. 
Let the others go to Ballywhack ! Rotten cads ! ” 

Toni gave him a sad little smile. “ Oh, Lex ! I 
haven’t the heart for fun ! By the time I have fin- 
ished with the classes my courage has all oozed 
away, and I want to run into some corner and hide 
from every one.” 

One Thursday morning Ma was getting dinner 
ready when she heard the gate close; and, looking 
out the window, she saw Toni coming up the path. 
She opened the door before Toni had time to knock, 
and uttered an exclamation of dismay when she saw 
the girl’s white, set face. 


210 


RAINBOW GOLD 


“Land’s sakes, Toni! what is the matter?” she 
cried, and began to unbutton her coat. 

“ May I stay and have dinner with you, Ma? ” 
asked Toni. 

“ Stay? I should say so! Jim’ll be the gayest 
man in Peacedale when he comes home and finds 
you here. You’re a great favorite of Jim’s. Now 
you just sit right down by the stove and warm 
yourself. It’s a nasty, raw day; and for mean 
weather in winter, Maine weather is the meanest, 
Jim says.” Ma bustled about with her prepara- 
tions. 

“ Jim and I always have our meals in the kitchen 
when we are alone. It’s cheerful and warm, and 
saves me some stepping,” she went on. “And, by 
good luck, I just happened to bake a fresh batch of 
pies this morning instead of to-morrow. Ah ! here’s 
Jim! He’s never late.” 

“Well, I’m jiggered!” exclaimed Jim when he 
saw Toni. “ How’s that three-cornered piano at 
your place? It’s just about the size and shape of 
a lot in Portland that Sam Hooper used to have 
his pig-pen on, and he sold it for five hundred 
dollars last week.” 

“ Dinner’s ready,” announced Ma, and they drew 
up to the table. 

“ What ails you, Toni? You’re looking 


LIFE DARKENS 


211 


quite peckish,” began Jim, as he passed her a 
plate of savory stew with a snowy, light dump- 
ling. 

“ Never mind, Jim! You just eat your dinner, 
Toni,” admonished Ma. 

“ Yes, Toni, eat away. You just put that dump- 
ling out o* sight or it’ll float away. And you don’t 
get Ma’s dumplings every day. The dumplings 
some folks make could be used as anchors for ocean 
liners; but Ma’s dumplings wouldn’t hold down a 
wisp o’ thistle-down.” 

“ They are delicious,” responded Toni. “ But 
I — I — can’t eat 1 ” She buried her face in her 
hands and began to sob convulsively. “ Oh, I can’t 
stand it! I can’t stand it! ” 

Jim laid his knife and fork down in complete be- 
wilderment. Ma drew her chair beside Toni’s. 
“ Just cry it out, my dear,” she said soothingly. 
“ Go on with your dinner, Jim.” 

“Dinner be blowed!” rejoined Jim. “What’s 
the trouble, little girl? Your grandfather hasn’t 
been mean with you, has he? ” 

“Oh, no! It’s ” 

The sad story came out with fresh tears, but at 
the end Toni recovered her composure. 

“ It is so terrible to have them slurring my father; 
to feel that the world looks upon him as a criminal. 


212 


RAINBOW GOLD 


and I can do nothing. I’m not even allowed to 
bear his name. My dear, kind old Dad! It is all 
a horrible mistake. But I’m such a coward. It’s 
getting worse every day! ” 

“ Well, you’d better stay here with Ma this after- 
noon,” advised Jim. “ She’ll cheer you up. You 
came to the right one for comfort when you came 
to Ma.” 

“ I know that,” replied Toni, drying her eyes. 
“ But I must go to school. I must ! though I’m be- 
coming more ashamed every day.” 

“ You mustn’t be ashamed, Toni,” said Ma 
quietly. “ There’s nothing for you to be ashamed 
pf. You have faith in your father. You believe 
he is innocent, don’t you? ” 

“ Oh, yes! yes indeed! He is innocent.” 

“ Well, then, there’s no shame, and you’ve got to 
hold up your head in pride and show the world that 
your belief in your father means something. If 
you thought he was guilty, you might be ashamed. 
But your faith should make you hope that some 
day everything will be set right. Sooner or later 
things are all evened up. It’s like a difficult sum. 
If you work at it and don’t get discouraged, the 
right answer is bound to come. Keep a stiff upper 
lip. Don’t let folks think they can hurt you with 
their jeers. Face them bravely, and don’t feel 


LIFE DARKENS 


213 


ashamed that this story has come out. Just think 
that it gives you a chance to show your love for your 
father. He’s bearing the disgrace all by himself. 
Be ready to take your share of the burden. Grasp 
your nettle bravely ! He must be a good father, a 
good man, to have won your love. Let your love 
be worth having! ” 

“ Oh, Ma 1 you’ve done me good ! ” cried Toni, 
with a smile sunning her face. “ You’ve filled me 
with courage ! ” 

“ Ma’s right! ” said Jim. “ Face it out bravely, 
Toni. And, see here, when you want to have a real, 
busting cry, just come to Ma, as you’ve done to-day. 
A good wash-out does us all good at times. And 
don’t let those giggling schoolgirls, who haven’t a 
thread of brains to bless themselves with, down your 
spirits. Let out all your canvas and sail straight 
through the storm. You’ll weather the gale, and 
there’s a blue sky ahead. Never fear! Be brave 
and gay, Toni. Get your heart tuned up for a jig, 
and let your spirits keep in step.” 

Toni put her arms about Ma and kissed her 
heartily. “ I’m coming again, Ma, the next time 
you have dumplings; and I shall ask for a second 
one. Thank you for the comfort and the courage 
you’ve given me. These last ten days have been 
terrible; but I’m going to take Jim’s advice, and 


214 


RAINBOW GOLD 


start my heart jigging to a joy- tune. I*m going to 
be jolly, a regular Mark Tapley.” 

“ By gum ! that’s it ! ” Jim tied his muffler about 
his neck. “ You remember Mark Tapley, Ma? 
We read about him last winter. Say, he was a 
corker, and no mistake! Jolly? That Dickens was 
a man that knew the human heart and had a heart 
of his own. Jolly, jolly! that’s the word.” 


CHAPTER XVII 


A GREAT HOPE 

After Toni and Jim had gone, Ma put her 
kitchen in order and then carefully dressed herself 
in her best clothes. Her black velvet bonnet fitted 
closely over her white curls, and was held in place 
by a ribbon tied in a bow under her chin. Her dark 
red dress showed an inch of its skirt beneath the 
long coat the cuffs and collar of which were edged 
with fur. 

Half an hour later, Delia knocked at Mr. Has- 
tings’s study. 

“ Come in. What is it? ” 

She opened the door and peered in. “ Mis’ 
Trefethen would like to see you. Something im- 
portant, she says.” 

“Mrs. Trefethen? What does the woman want?” 
he asked, laying down his pen. 

“ I don’t know; but she’s got her Sunday bonnet 
on, and she said she’d wait if it wasn’t convenient 

for you to see her right now.” 

216 


216 


RAINBOW GOLD 


“ Show her in.” He left his desk and seated him- 
self in his usual chair before the grate. 

Ma came in, trembling with excitement. Her 
cheeks were so flushed that the scars were almost 
invisible. 

Mr. Hastings rose. “Ah, Mrs. Trefethen! I 
can spare you a few moments. Just sit down.” 
He pointed to a chair opposite his. 

“ I beg your pardon for disturbing you, Mr. 
Hastings,” she began. “ But I felt I must come 
to see you about — Toni.” 

“ Toni, eh? Well, just loosen your coat, Mrs. 
Trefethen. You will find this room rather warm. 
In fact, I think you had better take it off. Let me 
assist you.” 

With a gentle courtesy he laid her coat aside. 

“And now,” he said, resuming his seat, “ what 
about Toni? ” 

“ The poor child is in trouble, Mr. Hastings; and 
I think you ought to know about it. So I ventured 
to come this afternoon ” 

“ In trouble? Toni in trouble? ” he broke in. 

“ Yes. The story of her father’s — difficulty has 
leaked out in some way, and many of the pupils at 
the Academy are making it hard for Toni. You 
know, young folks can be very heartless and cruel; 
and Toni’s sorrow is bad enough to bear without her 


A GREAT HOPE 


217 


being teased about it. She has always been so 
bright and cheerful that I can’t bear to see her 
down-hearted; and I thought that perhaps some- 
thing could be done to — to help her father; to help 
Toni. I hoped that you would do something.” 
She glanced at him timidly 

He frowned. “ I do something? For Hamil- 
ton? The man was given a fair trial and was foimd 
guilty. He must bear the consequences. That’s 
all.” 

“No, that isn’t all! His children must suffer, 
too ; and he may be innocent.” 

“Innocent? Bah I” 

“ Mr. Hastings, we all know that innocent men 
are often punished for crimes they never committed. 
Why may it not be so in this case? ” 

“ Hamilton was given a chance to prove his inno- 
cence. He was unable to do so, and the Court ad- 
judged him guilty. There is nothing more to be 
done. I am sorry this miserable story has come 
out. I — I don’t like Toni to be in trouble. But 
I don’t see that I can do anything. It must simply 
be lived down.” 

Ma pressed her lips firmly together. “ Mr. 
Hastings, I am sure you haven’t had Toni live with 
you all these weeks without learning to care for her. 
And you must have found out that the great love 


218 


RAINBOW GOLD 


of her life is given to her father. Now, it seems 
to me that when a man like Mr. Hamilton has a 
daughter like Toni, he simply couldn’t do wrong. 
God wouldn’t let that child’s wonderful love be 
given to a criminal. You must know that Toni’s 
love is worth having, for you must have gained some 
of it yourself by this time.” 

He glanced at her sharply, but she continued. 

“You are a rich man. You could arrange for 
another trial. There must be some mistake hidden 
away, for justice often makes mistakes. With all 
the money you have, you could set folks to work to 
find out that mistake. You could perhaps prove 
that Mr. Hamilton is innocent. Wouldn’t it be 
worth while to try? Think of the happiness you 
could give those three children! Just remember 
that this man is their father, the husband of 3^our 
only child. He may be innocent! Won’t you try 
to clear it up? ” 

“ Suppose he isn’t innocent, what then? ” 

“ Well, you will have done your best, and your 
trying to prove his innocence will have won for j^ou 
the love of those children. You will be the gainer, 
whatever comes of it. I’m just a plain, country 
woman, Mr. Hastings ; but I know there are clever 
lawyers who can bring things to light that folks 
don’t know the existence of. Now you could set 


A GREAT HOPE 


219 


one of those lawyers to work. And if Mr. Hamil- 
ton’s innocence could be proved, think of the joy of 
his children! Just think of the love they’d give 
you ! It’s a wonderful thing, the power you have, 
if you would only use it. When Toni has spoken 
of her father, haven’t you sometimes envied him the 
love of her young heart? You have a chance of 
sharing that love.” She clasped her hands and 
gazed at him fearlessly with her soft, motherly 
eyes. 

“ Well, well, Mrs. Trefethen, you’re a good 
woman; but this is a foolish idea of yours, very 
foolish. Hamilton defied me years ago, when he 
persuaded my daughter to marry him. And now 
you ask me to aid him in establishing his innocence, 
to assist the man who thwarted me and stole my 
daughter. I’ll see him rot in prison before I’ll 
raise a finger to help him! It is quite useless for 
you to say anything farther.” 

“ It may be useless,” rejoined Ma quietly, “ but 
I’m going to say it. Mr. Hastings, you are an old 
man. I have lived here most of my life, and I 
know your story. It is a sad one, but you can give 
it a happy ending, if you will. I know how things 
have gone against you and made you hard and 
bitter. When you were a young man at college 
something happened to destroy your trust in peo- 


220 


RAINBOW GOLD 


pie, and all these years you have been feeding on 
husks. I can remember when you brought your 
dear little French bride here — Toni’s grandmother. 
I can remember her going away suddenly and dying 
soon after. Then her daughter, Annette, grew up. 
You did not understand her. She left you. Wliy? 
She needed love which you did not know how to 
give her. Now you have her children, and what 
are you going to do with them? You have made 
yourself think that you don’t need love, that you 
can get along without it. You have one more 
chance of winning it; and it is such an easy way. 
Just allow yourself to be kind. I know you have 
it in you, but you have always tried to crush out all 
the better side of yourself. Take this one chance, 
and see what a difference it will make in your life. 
Just say to yourself, ‘ I want these children to love 
me. I don’t care about their father; but I’ll do 
what I can for him, just for the sake of winning 
their love.’ We all need love, Mr. Hastings.” 

“We all need love, eh? ” he said after a pause. 
“ Mrs. Trefethen, I’ll think over your suggestion. 
As you say, money can set the machinery of the law 
in motion; and — well. I’ll think it over.” 

Ma rose, and he assisted her with her coat. 

“ Of course, Mrs. Trefethen, nothing must be 
said to the children about this.” 


A GREAT HOPE 


221 


“ I think they should know,” pleaded Ma. “ It 
seems to me that you ought to get the credit of 
trying, whatever comes of it.” 

“ The affair is so hopeless that I don’t want any 
one, not even Toni, to know that I was fool enough 
to undertake it— if I should decide to do so. It will 
only result in failure, and Toni would feel the dis- 
grace more keenly than she does now. It’s a 
woman’s crazy scheme; but — ^weU, I’ll think it 
over.” 

He accompanied her to the door, and when he 
returned to his study, he watched her go down the 
driveway to the gate. 

“ She’s a good woman,” he murmured ; “ a plain, 
sensible, good woman. It’s a pity she lost her chil- 
dren, for she’s the stuff that good mothers are 
made of.” 

He sat before the fire. The ruddy flames were 
tipped with steely-blue lights, and the brass fender 
mirrored the firelight in flashes of gold. 

“ That was a tragedy, to lose her children in that 
way,” he mused. “ But she and Jim have lived it 
down — and up I Plain, honest people they are, 
with the good-will of the whole town. They have 
won love. ‘We all need love,’ she said. Bah! 
That simple woman with her wonderful eyes made 
me think of my own mother! What a mother she 


222 


RAINBOW GOLD 


was! Ah! she died too soon! She would not have 
failed me, as the others did. A chance to win 
love! ” 

He lighted his pipe, and for a short time he 
smoked in silence. 

“ I’d rather like to see Toni’s face light up for me 
as it does when she speaks of her father. She loves 
him. Did he have to win her love, I wonder, or 
was it given freely? H’m! Toni’s love! I be- 
lieve I’ll get Jameson on the Hamilton case. If 
he undertook to defend the devil, he could make his 
Satanic Majesty appear before the eyes of the 
world as a white dove of purity. Let me see. I’ll 
go down to New York next week; the change will 
do me good. And I’ll talk it over with Jameson; 
in fact. I’ll write to him now.” 

He lighted the lamp on his desk and drew out his 
writing-materials. When he sealed the letter he 
nodded with a peculiar smile. 

“ H’m, the first stone turned to aid mine ancient 
enemy, Hamilton. Well, well, I told the good 
woman I’d think it over ! ” 

That night Kathryn Lindsay sat in the comfort- 
able library at the rectory, studying her lessons. 
Mrs. Lindsay was at the same table, writing to her 
two sons at Princeton. Mr. Lindsay sat near 
them, cutting the leaves of a magazine, and he 


A GREAT HOPE 


223 


looked over with an indulgent smile when Kathryn 
pushed her books away and sighed deeply. 

“ What is the trouble, Kitty-cat? Mathematics 
bothering you? ” he asked. 

“ Oh, no. Father; the lessons are a cinch to-night.” 

“ Really, Kathryn, now that the boys are away, 
there is no excuse for your adopting their slang,” 
reproved Mrs. Lindsay. “ You ought to forget it.” 

“ Forget it? Oh, Mother ! there’s slang if you 
like! Forget it!"* Kathryn laughed, but her 
chuckles ended in a lugubrious sigh. 

“ Father, why did you choose to be a clergyman? 
Why weren’t you a prize-fighter, a policeman, or a 
stevedore instead? It’s dreadfully hard to be a 
clergyman’s daughter ! ” 

Mr. Lindsay laid his magazine on the table. 
“ Hard to be a clergyman’s daughter, eh? ” 

“ Yes. I’m always expected to live up to your 
reputation, and look pious and holy, as if I were an 
infant saint. It’s simply awful to be obliged to go 
through life like a plaster image of an angel! ” 

Her father laughed, and Kathryn turned to Mrs. 
Lindsay. 

“ Mother, how ever did you have the courage to 
marry Father? I wouldn’t marry a clergyman for 
the world! ” 

“Why, Kathryn! I’m sorry to hear that you 


224 


RAINBOW GOLD 


don’t approve of clergymen, seeing that your 
knowledge of them is based solely upon your ac- 
quaintance with me. What have I done to give 
you such a poor opinion of clergymen? ” His eyes 
twinkled. 

“ I’ve nothing against you, against clergymen 
themselves. You are a perfect old darling, a regu- 
lar duck! And the dear old Bishop is a cherub, 
even if his legs are lumpy ! But there’s something 
I want to do, oh, so badly; and since I am a clergy- 
man’s daughter, I can’t do it. It wouldn’t be 
proper.” 

“What is it you want to do?” asked Mrs. 
Lindsay. 

Kathryn spoke slowly. “ I — want — to take — 
lola Burtis — by — the — nose — and — twist — it — off 
— her — face! That’s all.” 

“ Kathryn ! ” expostulated her mother. 

“ What has lola’s nose done to offend you? ” in- 
quired Mr. Lindsay. “ If I remember aright, 
lola’s nose is quite pretty, — quite worth looking at.” 

“ That’s just it! Her nose is pretty, so I’d like 
to twist it off. A girl like lola doesn’t deserve to 
have a pretty nose! ” 

Mrs. Lindsay was about to speak. 

“ Now, Mother, don’t tell me that I am speaking 
in an unbecoming way — for a clergyman's daugh- 


A GREAT HOPE 


225 


ter! I know I have no right to have such unchris- 
tian-like feelings towards any one ; but please don’t 
tell me so! I know it already.” 

Mr. Lindsay drew her on his knee. “ Come, tell 
us all about it ! ” 

According to her custom when occupying her 
father’s knee, she began to plait and unplait his 
beard in two thick, stubby braids. 

“ I suppose you have heard the story about Cecily 
and Toni’s father? ” 

He nodded. 

“ Well, lola Burtis got hold of it, through Mandy 
Fly, I believe, and she has made Toni’s life at 
school simply unbearable, with her sneers and 
innuendoes. The mean little cat! It makes me 
boil over with rage. Toni is so brave, and she 
doesn’t say a word. I want to do something really 
vicious! But since I am a clergyman* s daughter, 
I must snivel and sing a psalm when I’m just crazy 
to — to — ^well, to cuss! I wish you were a butcher 
or a blacksmith for one day only! lola Burtis 
would never have the chance of poking her nose into 
other people’s business again. She wouldn’t have 
a nose to poke with. She and Mandy Fly are the 
poky-nosiest people I know!” 


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228 


RAINBOW GOLD 


student, a German, and had a wonderful voice. 
We — became engaged. Then Basil, your grand- 
father, sent for me. I came home at once; but I 
expected to return to — Franz. Or he intended to 
come over to America for me. But Priscilla had 
j.ust met with the accident which made her a cripple ; 
and ’Toinette had gone back to France. Then 
there was little Annette, your mother. I had to 
stay here; I was needed. So I wrote — to Franz 
and told him — it was a mistake — that he must not 
come for me.” 

“ But you wanted him to come? ” 

“ Oh, yes ! But I couldn’t leave little Annette 
and poor Priscilla.” 

“ Didn’t Franz — insist on coming for you? ” 

“ Yes, at first. So I — had to let him think — I 
didn’t care — that I had changed my mind. It was 
very hard — to do that. Then he sent me a cruel 
letter, and it seemed that something — died in me; 
my heart perhaps. Since then I have been like a 
ghost, a living ghost. After Priscilla settled down 
to a life of invalidism, she didn’t — ^need me. Any 
one could have waited upon her. She was so clever, 
she read all the time; and I, well, I bored her. 
Annette never learned to love me. At first, as a 
child, she seemed afraid of me. I suppose I was 
sad — too sad for a child to understand. After a 


DREAMS AND SHADOWS 229 


time she didn’t need me. My brother kept to him- 
self. He was heart-broken over ’Toinette; and, I 
fear, I bored him, too. So all these years I have 
been alone — quite, quite alone. No one has 
needed me.” 

Her voice was steady, almost lifeless in its 
tones. Indeed, she might have been a ghost speak- 
ing, — “ a living ghost,” as she aptly described 
herself. 

Cecily’s tears fell on her aunt’s hand. 

“ You’ll never be able to say that again. Aunt 
Olivia!” she cried. You’ll never be alone! I 
love you — I need you! I do love you. Aunt 
Olivia! ” 

“ That is the first time any one has said that to 
me for thirty years, — ‘ I love you.’ ” 

“ What became of Franz? ” Cecily inquired. 

“ He became very famous — a wonderful tenor. 
That was his ambition, — a great Lohengrin, a gTeat 
Parsifal.” 

“ Did he — marry? ” 

“ I don’t know. I suppose so.” 

“ Oh, wouldn’t you like to see him again? 
Wouldn’t it be lovely if you could meet, and have 
everything end beautifully after all ! ” 

“No — that could — never be! But it would be 
wonderful to hear him sing — once more. I have 


i 



« 




232 


RAINBOW GOLD 


“ all life’s quintessence in an hour,” as they re-lived 
the past in story and unspoken memories. 

For several days after Mr. Hastings returned to 
Peacedale, he was irascible, parsimonious, and al- 
together unbearable. 

“ Grandfather must have been kind to some one 
in New York,” Toni remarked to Cecily one day, 
as they were going home to their midday dinner. 

“ Kind to some one? Why? ” questioned Cecily 
dubiously. 

“ Because he has been particularly hateful ever 
since he came back,” replied Toni. “ I have noticed 
that whenever he is pleasant or does a kind act, he 
seems to be ashamed of it, and tries to atone for the 
folly and weakness of being kind by being mean and 
detestable. It was disgraceful the way he treated 
Aunt Olivia this morning! I’m glad Aunt Pris- 
cilla has spunk enough to talk back.” 

Cecily laughed. “ Didn’t Delia look indignant 
when he ordered her to take the marmalade off the 
table? ” 

“ Yes, I thought she was going to throw the jar 
at his head.” 

That afternoon Toni went to the kitchen to press 
some hair-ribbons. Before entering, she knocked, 
and disturbed Delia’s impassioned warbling of 
“ Love me and the wurr-urr-urld is mine.” 


DREAMS AND SHADOWS 233 


“ May I come in and iron the creases out of my 
ribbons, Delia? ” 

“ Sure! I guess them irons at the back of the 
stove are hot enough.” 

Delia spread the ironing-blanket on the table and 
then went on with her singing as she kneaded a pan 
of bread. 

“ How is it, Delia,” began Toni presently, “ that 
you sing love-songs and yet you hate men and 
wouldn’t marry? ” 

“ Men ! They’re only fit to sing about, not to 
live with. You see, it’s this way. I wouldn’t 
marry a man ; no, not if he was an angel in disguise. 
But I sort of like to pretend that I have — ^well, a 
young man courting me. That I’m a Lady Cor- 
delia and he’s a Dook of something or other; like in 
a story. It’s all right to have to do with a pretend 
man, for you can imagine him what he isn’t. But 
a real man ! ” Delia’s supreme scorn could not find 
words suitable for its utterance. 

“ There never was a man outside a book that was 
fit to live with,” she continued. “ Of course, the 
Bible says that the Lord made man in His own 
image; and I don’t deny it. But that was a good 
time ago, and I guess the mold the Lord used was 
broken long ago, and men have been making them- 
selves ever since; and a mighty poor job they’ve 







236 


RAINBOW GOLD 


appointed hour; but Lex did not appear. Tuesday 
he was still absent. 

“ Do you know what is the matter with Mere- 
dith? ” Mr. Gifford asked Toni. 

“ No,” she replied. “ I haven’t seen him since 
Friday. Perhaps Joe Barber had more hauling 
for Lex to do. He might have let it wait until the 
exams were over.” 

“ He is not in sympathy with the lad’s efforts,” 
responded Mr. Gifford with a frown. “ This is 
most unfortunate for Lex. He was going to make 
a brilliant showing for the Academy. Too bad, 
too bad I ” 

There was a half -holiday on Wednesday, and 
Toni started out immediately after dinner for the 
Barber farm. 

“ I feel that something is wrong with Lex, and 
I’m going to find out,” she said to Cecily. 

It was a walk of three miles over a lonely road 
which led through a forest of majestic pines. 
When she emerged from the gloom of the woods, 
she saw a dingy yellow house whose sagging founda- 
tion made it lean towards the road. She soon 
reached the front door, and found it covered with 
an old piece of rag carpet, which had been nailed 
across it. She picked her way to the rear of 
the house over drifts of snow, which had been 


DREAMS AND SHADOWS 237 

criss-crossed with the innumerable footprints of 
fowl. 

In response to her knock, Mrs. Barber appeared 
and invited her to “ jes* step inside.” 

Mrs. Barber was a tall, angular woman, with a 
hard face liberally sprinlded with freckles. Her 
sandy hair was drawn tightly back and twisted in a 
little knob on the top of her head. Her pale blue 
eyes blinked through white lashes. She wore a 
print Mother Hubbard, held in at the waist with a 
checked gingham apron. 

“ Oh, you mean Alexander! ” she said in a high- 
pitched voice, when Toni inquired after Lex. 
“ Why, he ain’t been feelin’ jes’ right since Sunday. 
Cold kind-a settled in his lungs, I guess. And 
Mister wanted him for to do some more haulin’ 
do^vn to Twichell’s mill; but he jes’ couldn’t stand 
on his legs on Monday. He’ll be all right in a day 
or two, I guess. Boys is always hearty, and they 
soon git over any ailin’.” 

“ May I see him? ” asked Toni, as Mrs. Barber 
resumed her knitting. 

“Why, yes! You kin jes’ step up that stair- 
way. His room is right at the top. And when 
you come down you might jes’ as well bring down 
the dinner-tray. And jes’ tell him if he ain’t had 
his dinner, I ain’t goin’ to traipse up with any 















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240 RAINBOW GOLD 

scholarship now, so my dream of going to college is 
over.” 

“Oh, Lex! I’m so sorry.” She stroked his 
hand. 

“ I’ve worked hard, and I felt sure of passing. I 
knew that I had done my best, and couldn’t fail. I 
have always believed that success or failure lay in 
our own hands; that with an ambitious will we 
could overcome all obstacles and shape our ends as 
we wished. Now I see that even in doing our best 
we are only able to ‘ rough hew.* ” A violent fit 
of coughing ended his words. 

“ What have you had to eat to-day? ” she asked 
with a look of disgust at the dinner. 

“ Some scorched oatmeal this morning,” he re- 
plied. “ I simply hadn’t the courage to tackle 
that dinner, though I know that Mrs. Barber 
will be real mad when she knows I haven’t eaten 
it.” 

“ She won’t know. We’ll hide it. See! I’ll 
wrap it up in one of these newspapers and take it 
out when I go home. When I reach the woods I’ll 
throw it away.” 

Lex smiled feebly as he watched her. 

“ Here goes this vile decoction on the roof of the 
shed,” she said, as she opened the window and 
poured the tea from the mug. Then she spread a 


DREAMS AND SHADOWS 241 


newspaper on the floor and carefully scraped the 
meat and vegetables off the plate. 

“ I’ll leave the sea of gravy with the little ice- 
bergs of cold grease on the plate; otherwise my 
bundle will leak and betray me as I go out. Now 
bid farewell to the pie I If you had been rash 
enough to eat the dinner, this slab of pie might have 
served for your tombstone.” 

Another prolonged cough racked his frail body. 
She looked at him anxiously. 

“ I’m going down-stairs now to make love to Mrs. 
Barber and persuade her to let me boil an egg and 
warm some milk for you. O dear! you can’t be 
warm enough in this cold room! That quilt is so 
thin and the blanket is cottony ; it doesn’t even pre- 
tend to be wool ! ” 

She carried the tray down-stairs with great diffi- 
culty, and crashed against the door when she 
reached the bottom. 

“Oh! he et his dinner, did he? He’s so fine- 
mouthed these days that nothin’ seems good enough 
for him.” 

Toni smiled. “Mrs. Barber, I don’t want to 
bother you, but will you let me have some milk to 
warm for Lex? And I should like to boil an egg 
and make some toast. Just tell me where the things 
are. I’ll get everything ready.” 


242 


RAINBOW GOLD 


“ You don’t mean to say that after eating all that 
dinner he wants to put more vittles into his stom- 
ach! ” Mrs. Barber’s knitting-needles ceased their 
clicking. 

“ I — I thought, if you didn’t mind, I could get 
the things ready before I left, and then you 
wouldn’t have to bother about taking up his sup- 
per,” pleaded Toni. 

“ Well, I guess it’s about time he come down for 
his meals. He’ll have to, or go empty. I don’t 
hold with boys laying in bed ; and Mister wants him 
for to draw that timber over to Twichell’s to-mor- 
row. So he might jes’ as well git up to-night.” 

“Just let me take up a bowl of warm milk; 
please, Mrs. Barber! Lex is really ill.” 

“An’ he’ll stay ill while there’s fools to wait on 
him. The milk’s in the separator, and I ain’t going 
to shake the cream, not for the President of the 
United States. You kin have an egg and some 
bread and butter, if you like.” 

She brought the things from the pantry and laid 
them on the table. 

Toni thanked her graciously, and proceeded to 
make some buttered toast. She broke a soft-boiled 
egg into a cup. Placing them on the tray, she car- 
ried them up-stairs and watched poor Lex struggle 
to eat. 


DREAMS AND SHADOWS 243 


“ Oh, it is good of you, Toni! ” He sank back 
exhausted on the hard pillow. 

“ Lex, you can’t stay here — you siniply can’t ! ” 
she cried. “ I’m going to rush home and find some 
way of getting you out of this ! ” 

“Please, please don’t, Toni!” he expostulated. 
“ I’ll be all right soon.” 

“ You’ll never be all right if you stay here. I’m 
going to Ma Trefethen. She’ll know what to do. 
I’ll take this tray down, and then I’ll come back for 
that precious old dinner. But just make up your 
mind that we are going to get you out of here.” 

She was soon hurrying along the road, and when 
she passed beyond sight of the house she threw the 
despised dinner away. Presently she heard the 
sound of sleigh-bells behind her, and she waited by 
the roadside until the driver overtook her. He 
stopped at her signal. 

“ Will you let me drive with you to the town, 
please? ” she asked. 

“ Waal, ef yuh don’t mind the smell o’ them pigs 
behind, yuh kin set up here with me,” he answered ; 
and he pulled aside a mangy buffalo-robe as she 
eagerly climbed up to the seat. 

“ Be yuh in a hurry? ” he inquired. 

“Yes; I’d like to get to Jim Trefethen’s as 
quickly as possible.” 


244 


RAINBOW GOLD 


“ Waal, ef yuh be a friend o’ Jim’s, I’ll make this 
boss git yuh thar as quick as winkin’.” 

They skimmed over the snow and soon passed her 
grandfather’s place. 

“ It would be a waste of time for me to ask 
Grandfather to help,” she thought. “ He’s in such 
a hateful mood. I’ll go straight to Jim and Ma.” 

When they reached Jim’s lane, she jumped dovm 
and turned to thank her unlmown driver. 

“ Waal, ef yuh be a friend o’ Jim’s, I don’t need 
no thanks. I’m real glad to help a friend o’ Jim’s.” 

She rushed into the house and told her story. 
Jim had just come home and was beginning to re- 
move his high boots. 

“Well, I’m jiggered!” he exclaimed; and he 
hurriedly pulled up the boot he had partly taken 
off. “ I’ll go after him at once.” 

When Jim drove from the bam with Polly 
Feemus hitched to the old pung, which was filled 
with soft, sweet hay, Ma had blankets and pillows 
ready. 

“ Take these hot stones with you, Jim; and warm 
them in Barber’s stove again while you are getting 
Alexander ready. They will help to keep the boy 
warm when you’re driving him in. It will be cold 
and dark then. And here’s a bottle of hot cordial. 
It’ll keep warm till you get there; and see that 


DREAMS AND SHADOWS 245 


Alexander has a good dose of it. I’ll have the front 
bedroom warmed and a hot bath ready. Be as 
quick as you can. Toni,^ou’d better go along, and 
you can sit in the back of the pung with Alexander 
and see that he keeps covered properly.” 

“ Ma thinks of everything,” said Jim to Toni as 
they drove along. “And Alexander’ll get a taste 
of heaven when he has Ma looking after him. Suf- 
fering Caesar! I’ll be glad to get that boy away 
from Barber’s I Ma and I wanted him to come and 
stay with us two years ago. I could have found 
some work for him to do, so he could have earned 
his keep and gone to the Academy regularly. But 
he kind of felt himself bound to the Barbers. He 
said they took him when he was ten, and not much 
use, as he thought; and he promised them he’d stay 
and work for them until he was seventeen. He’s 
been nothing but a slave since then; and I guess he’s 
earned his freedom by this time. The Lord will 
surely be willing to cancel the debt of that promise 
without any further payments. I tell you, Toni, 
there’s lots of martyrs in the world that don’t go 
round wearing a halo, and never get their pictures 
in a Book of Saints I ” 


CHAPTER XIX 


LEX’S VICTORY, BLANK VERSE, AND 
THE MACBETHS 

When Jim and Toni reached the Barber farm, 
Joe Barber had just returned from cutting trees in 
the pine woods. He was in a churlish mood be- 
cause the timber-hauling to the mill had been de- 
layed by Lex’s illness. At first he objected to 
Jim’s taking the sick boy away. 

“ It’s no use being mean, Joe. The boy’s ill — 
you can’t deny that. If he stays here, as you say, 
there’ll be a big doctor-bill for you to pay, because 
you’ll have to send for Dr. Winthrop. Every one 
in Peacedale knows how well Alexander has worked 
for you; and you’ll find yourself in a pretty fix if 
you don’t give him proper care now that he is laid 
up. He may die on your hands, you know.” 

Jim’s argument prevailed and very soon they 
started back to Peacedale. Lex, rolled up in warm 
blankets, and with hot stones at his feet, lay on the 
hay in the pung, and Toni sat beside him to shield 
him from the wind. The sky was a dark, misty 
246 


LEX’S VICTORY 


247 


blue, and the forest of pines was silhouetted against 
the horizon like a huge blot of black ink. 

She laid her hand on Lex’s forehead. It was 
feverishly hot, and the boy began to mutter drowsily 
as they entered the woods, where the wind moaned 
and murmured among the pines. She was obliged 
to leave them at her grandfather’s gate, as she knew 
her people would be anxious over her prolonged 
absence. 

“ It isn’t far now,” said Jim. “And I’ll have Dr. 
Winthrop in right away. Alexander’ll be safe 
when he’s in Ma’s care. We’ve done a good day’s 
work, Toni; and I’m jiggered if Alexander ever 
goes back to Barber’s again ! ” 

She told her story at the supper-table. Grand- 
father suddenly dropped his acerbity and became 
very gentle as he questioned her. He showed such 
a friendly interest and concern about Lex that Toni 
fell in love with him. 

“ Olivia, see that the boy has broths and jellies,” 
said Grandfather, not unkindly. 

The next morning on her way to school, Toni 
learned that Lex was seriously ill with pneumonia. 
Poor old Rachel Lee was doing the housework at 
Jim’s cottage, while Ma gave all her attention to 
the sick boj% who required constant watching. 

“ Jim, Aunt Olivia wished me to tell you that 


248 


RAINBOW GOLD 


she’s coming over this afternoon to relieve Ma. 
You know she’s had experience in nursing Aunt 
Priscilla, and she is very fond of Lex.” 

“ Well, Toni, that’s mighty kind of Miss Has- 
tings ; and I guess Ma’ll be glad of a little sleep. I 
can remember your Aunt Olivia when she was a 
pretty young thing, — tall and slender as a sapling. 
Her hair and eyes were black as night, and her 
cheeks and lips made all the red roses look sick. 
Indeed, those long-legged roses you pay fifty cents 
apiece for in Portland — American Beauties, they’re 
called — remind me of Miss Olivia when she was 
young. For she was an American Beauty in those 
days. Then her hair suddenly became gray, and 
her eyes lost their sparkle, and her cheeks paled, so 
that she seemed to wither all at once, as if a blight 
had struck her. That whole house has seemed 
blighted, as if some curse had come upon it. I 
shouldn’t wonder if you young folks could lift the 
curse. Tell Miss Olivia that Ma’ll be real glad to 
have her come.” 

Aunt Olivia’s services were not needed, though 
she went over to Jim’s with wine and jellies for the 
patient. Grandfather had not been idle. During 
the morning he saw Dr. Winthrop and voluntarily 
assumed all the expenses of Lex’s illness. 

“ Telegraph for a nurse from Portland, Win- 


LEX’S VICTORY 


249 


throp ; two, if necessary. Don’t let Mrs. Trefethen 
wear herself out. She’s willing and capable, I 
know. See that the boy has all he needs. I’ll stand 
for the expense, so give hun every possible chance.” 

The nurse caught the noon train for Peacedale, 
and by that time the whole town knew that Lex’s 
life was in danger. For two weeks sleigh-bells 
were muffled in Peacedale, and Jim was beset with 
inquiries from all sides. 

Then came a dreadful day, when a great special- 
ist arrived from Boston. For thirty-six hours he, 
aided by Dr. Winthrop and two nurses, fought 
for Lex’s life — and won! When the struggle was 
over and Lex lay sleeping under the charge of one 
of the nurses, the two doctors, shirtsleeved and un- 
shaven, sat in Ma’s dining-room and ate the mid- 
night supper she had prepared for them. 

“ The lad has no stamina, Winthrop,” the great 
specialist said, as he passed his glass to Ma for more 
cider. “ He has not been properly nourished ; but 
his will-power is miraculous. His determination 
to live has practically pulled him through.” 

He turned to Ma. “ Beyond knowing that he is 
not your son, Mrs. Trefethen, I know nothing of 
mj^ patient. Where does he come from? ” 

“ His father taught in the high school in my home 
town,” began Ma. “ He was a clever man, but sad 


250 


RAINBOW GOLD 


and quiet. Lex’s mother was one of the scholars 
there, and they were married when she was quite 
young, — much younger than the teacher. He died 
about two years later, and left her with the child, 
one year old. Then she taught in a little district 
school until she wore herself out and died when the 
boy was ten. There were no relatives to care for 
Lex, and the Barbers took him on condition that he 
would work on their farm until he was seventeen. 
He is sixteen now, and has had a hard life — hard 
work, bad food, disappointment. It’s a wonder he 
has the courage to live.” 

“ Lex, h’m. What is his name? ” 

“Alexander Meredith.” 

“ What? ” The specialist’s glass came down on 
the table with a force that cracked it. “Alexander 
Meredith, did you say? ” 

“ Yes.” Ma looked surprised at the man’s 
vehemence. 

“ This is miraculous ! Alexander Meredith ! 
There can’t be any doubt! I wonder if his 
father was Alexander Meredith at Harvard years 
ago.” 

“ I can get some books belonging to Alexander’s 
father, and some old pictures.” Ma left the room 
and soon returned with several books and old photo- 
graphs. 


LEX’S VICTORY 


251 


Dr. Drummond seized them eagerly. He recog- 
nized the photographs at once. 

“ Winthrop, this is wonderful! Alexander 
^leredith and I were pals at Harvard. During his 
third year his father committed suicide. It was a 
terrible affair. His mother died suddenly, owing 
to the shock, and my friend simply disappeared. 
He felt the disgrace keenly. He was a sensitive 
chap, dreamy and idealistic; and his father’s dis- 
honor broke his heart. He drifted away from us 
all, and no one knew what had become of him. 
Poor old Lex INIeredith ! And here is a little book 
I gave him years ago.” 

He remained silent for a few moments. Then 
he rose and walked up and down the room. 

“ Mrs. Trefethen, tell your husband he needn’t 
drive me to the early train. I’m going to wait until 
Lex wakes up. Thank God we were able to save 
him! Lex’s boy! He’s going to be my boy now.” 

“There, Ma Trefethen!” said Dr. Winthrop 
with a smile. “ You see Lex’s troubles are all 
over.” 

“ Yes,” added Dr. Drummond. “ I’m a lonely 
old bachelor, and Lex is going to be my son. Har- 
vard will have another Lex Meredith.” 

“Well, I’m jiggered!” was Jim’s verdict when 
he heard the news. 


252 


RAINBOW GOLD 


Lex did not learn of his changed fortunes for sev- 
eral days. Dr. Druinniond came back from Boston 
and told him when they were alone in the little 
front room. The boy could not speak ; but he held 
out his poor, thin hands, which were quickly and 
gently clasped by the doctor’s strong ones. 

“ I’ll try to be worthy, sir,” he said huskily; and 
two tears slowly coursed down his pale, hollow 
cheeks. 

There was a suspicious glitter in the man’s kind 
eyes, but he only said: “Tut-tut, my boy! Get 
well.” 

And Lex got well. 

March came to Peacedale like a roaring lion, and, 
after a week of blustering and raging, suddenly pre- 
tended to be a lamb. The trees dripped for days 
with melting snow. The roads and sidewalks were 
wet and slushy. Often from the roofs a weight of 
snow descended with a rolling rumble and a soft 
thud. 

“ But we ain’t got rid of winter yet,” said Ezekiel 
Martin, when making his daily promenade along 
the main street. 

“ Certainly Zeke Martin does lend rank and tone 
to Peacedale with his constable’s uniform and 
swinging stick,” observed Jim. “ He’s worth the 
sixty dollars that Peacedale pays him every Jan- 


LEX’S VICTORY 


253 


uary, even if he doesn’t have to arrest folks. He 
makes the place look prosperous and important; 
and he’s the best weather-pro j)het we have.” 

It was in March that the Peacedale Literary So- 
ciety held a meeting in Jim’s dining-room and dis- 
cussed “ Macbeth.” This society had been formed 
by Jim shortly before Christmas, and was composed 
of the older members of the Peacedale community. 

“ The young folks at the Academy are studying 
Shakespeare’s ‘ Macbeth ’ in the English literature 
class,” said Jim one night at Ben Sawyer’s store, 
where the Peacedale Political Club was holding an 
informal session around the stove. “ Now, why 
can’t we old folks form a society of high-noses — no, 
high-&row5, is the term — and do likewise. We’re 
letting the girls and boys get ahead of us intellectu- 
ally. Let’s start in and keep up with them.” 

“‘Macbeth?’ Never heard tell of it. Who 
wrote it?” asked Ben Sawyer. 

Jim explained what he knew of the play, and 
succeeded in arousing their interest. As a result 
the men and their wives met once a week during the 
winter, to hear Jim read “ Macbeth ” aloud. The 
women occupied themselves with knitting, and the 
men smoked. The final meeting was a social af- 
fair, for, after discussing the play, they were to have 
a supper. 


254 


RAINBOW GOLD 


“What kind o’ readin’ is this, anyway?” asked 
Obadiah Brimson. 

“ It ain’t like ordinary printing; and it ain’t 
poetry, for the words don’t sound alike. I always 
know poetry when I hear it,” said Ezekiel Martin; 
and he quoted: 

“Twinkle, twinkle, little star, 

How I wonder what you are ; 

Up above the world so high 
Like a diamond in the sky.** 

“ There you have it ! Star — are ; high — sky. 
That’s poetry. Now ‘ INIacbeth ’ ain’t like that,” 
Ezekiel finished, with an air of importance. 

“ No, the lines don’t rhyme,” agreed Ben Sawyer, 
“ though it’s printed like it was verse, with a capital 
letter beginning each line.” 

“ It’s a kind of poetry called blank verse,” Jim 
remarked. 

“Oh! I suppose it’s called that because there’s 
a blank space on each side of the printin’. It 
doesn’t stretch all across the page, like other 
readin’,” observed Ben Sawyer. 

“ Well, then, it ain’t no credit to Shakespeare, 
this writin’ blank verse,” declared Mrs. Sawyer. 
“ It’s up to the printer. It’s all in the way it’s 
printed. I could write blank verse myself, if the 
printer knew his business.” 


LEX’S VICTORY 


255 


“ I guess we all could,” sniffed “ Sophiar ” Brim- 
son. 

“ Well, what do you think of these Macbeths, 
anyway? ” Porky Thompson addressed them all. 

“ I think Mrs. Macbeth might ’a’ been own cousin 
to Mandy Fly,” proclaimed Sophiar. 

“ Well, now, I rather like Mrs. Macbeth,” ven- 
tured her husband, Obadiah. 

“You’d say that, Obe, if only to spite me!” 
snapped Sophiar. 

“ To my mind ]Mrs. Macbeth was to blame for 
the whole business,” declared Porky Thompson. 

“ No, sir ! ” exclaimed Ezekiel, who was wearing 
his uniform. “Now I speak in my offeeshul 
capacity, as constable of this town, seeing as how 
I’m supposed to have some knowledge o’ criminals ; 
not that I’m saying that there’s criminals in Peace- 
dale ! But it is my opinion, speaking as a constable 
and wearing my uniform as I do, that Mr. Macbeth 
was the one I’d have arrested if I’d been in Scotland 
at the time. And I’d have run in them witches for 
disturbing of the peace.” 

“ Yes, Mr. Macbeth was the one that ought to 
be blamed,” said Ben Sawyer, refilling hi>s pipe. 

“ That was a dirty trick he played the old king 
that was visiting him, — killing the old guy in his 
bed ! ” Obadiah Brimson clenched his fists. 


256 


RAINBOW GOLD 


“ Well, she egged him on. He wouldn’t ’a’ done 
it if she hadn’t given him a boost when he was weak- 
ening!” Sophiar declared emphatically, and she 
glared at Obadiah. 

“ That’s it 1 He wanted it done, but he was a 
coward. The wanting to do it is as bad as doing; 
and he hadn’t the spunk she had,” said Mrs. Sawyer, 
who became excited and dropped a needleful of 
stitches. 

“ Then, by thunder ! why didn’t she kill the old 
king herself? ” cried Porky Thompson. 

“ Because the king looked like her own father,” 
said Jim. “And, anyway, it was a man’s job. Mac- 
beth was a soldier, and he was used to killing 
folks.” 

“Yes, that’s it! That’s so!” added Obadiah. 
“ It was up to him to kill the old guy, so that he 
could toddle about with a crown on his head and a 
spectre in his fist.” 

“ What’s a spectre? ” asked Mrs. Porky. 

“ Obe means a ‘ sceptre,’ ” explained Jim. “ It’s 
a big stick a king holds, — something like the club 
Zeke carries.” 

“ Well, now, I do say that if Mrs. Macbeth had 
let her husband alone he wouldn’t ’a’ done it, and 
they could have settled down quietly and reared a 
respectable family; then there needn’t ’a’ been all 


LEX’S VICTORY 


257 


those murders and things.” Mrs. Porky began to 
turn the heel of a stocking she was knitting. 

“All I says is,” — Sophiar Brimson’s tone implied 
that when she had finished there would be nothing 
more to be said on the subject, — “ that Mrs. Mac- 
beth put the idea in her husband’s head. He 
wouldn’t ’a’ thought of killing the king if she hadn’t 
told him to do it.” 

“ Now there you’re mistaken,” broke in Jim. 
“ The witches started it; and he wrote and told his 
wife about it. He thought of killing Duncan as 
soon as the witches said he was to be king, so it isn’t 
fair to put the blame on her.” 

“ That’s it ! He put the idea into her head, and 
she had the nerve to make him carry it out. He 
started the trouble, and he’s to blame,” shouted 
Obadiah. 

“ The witches began it.” Ezekiel’s fist came 
down on the table. “ I don’t believe in witches 
anjrvvay, nor fortune-tellers. They’re all a bad 
lot.” 

“ Well, I thank my stars the Macbeths ain’t 
livin’ in Peacedale!” exclaimed Sophiar. “They 
ain’t the sort o’ folks I’d want for neighbors. I 
wouldn’t want to borrow an egg from the likes of 
her!” 

“And with all their banqueting and drinking, 


258 RAINBOW GOLD 

they’d be no credit to the State o’ Maine,” added 
Mrs. Porky. 

“ Say, I’d like to see Mrs. Macbeth and Mandy 
Fly having a scrap,” observed Obadiah with a 
chuckle. 

“We haven’t settled yet who’s to blame,” said 
Mrs. Sawyer. 

“ Suppose we let Zeke decide,” suggested Ma. 

“ Yes, Zeke’s the one. He represents the gov- 
ernment,” said Jim. 

Ezekiel scratched his head. “ Well, as I said be- 
fore, speaking in my offeeshul capacity and in my 
uniform, I think and firmly believe that them 
witches should get the blame ; and I’d suggest that 
the Macbeths bind themselves to keep the peace.” 

“ I’d like to have the hanging of the witches, if 
only for that mess they made in their kettle,” said 
Ben Sawyer. “ Last week I had a meal at a 
restaurant in Portland. I ordered hash, and if it 
wasn’t made from the same ‘ receep ’ that the 
witches used for their stew. I’ll eat my overshoes.” 

Ma rose. “ Now that the business of the even- 
ing has been settled, we’ll have our little banquet; 
and I assure you that there will be no witches’ stew 
served.” 

“Well,Ma Trefethen,” said Ezekiel, “I wouldn’t 
hesitate to eat witches’ stew if you made it, for I 


LEX’S VICTORY 


259 


never tasted a meal in your house that wasn’t the 
best yet. And it’s my opinion, speaking offeeshully 
and unoffeeshully, that if there’d been as many 
charming ladies who were good cooks in Scotland in 
those days as there are now in Peacedale, Shake- 
speare would have had a different story to tell. 
For there’d have been no murders, no witches, and 
no trouble whatever. But, just the same, he told 
the story blame well; and I’m sorry he’s not alive 
now, to write a play in blank verse about the ladies 
of Peacedale ! ” Ezekiel bowed as gallantly as his 
orb-like proportions would admit. 

“Here’s to Shakespeare!” cried Jim, standing 
up when their mugs had been filled with cider. 
“ He’s given us pleasant evenings together, with 
his story. And we must admit that he did mighty 
well with the stuff he had to write about in those 
days. By gum ! think what he could do if he lived 
in the world now 1 To Shakespeare 1 ” 

“And down with the witches ! ” added Ezekiel. 


CHAPTER XX 


A WITHERED ROMANCE 

The wind was sweeping boisterously over the 
coast, driving loose gray clouds across a sullen sky, 
and lashing the waves into a wild fury. April was 
on the way, and the lion, March, was angry. 

Already the sap was rising in the trees, and the 
pussy-willows were getting ready to cast aside the 
tight bro^vn-satin hoods they had worn all winter. 
The waters of Silver Brook gushed and gurgled be- 
neath their icy fetters: “ Free, free! we shall soon 
be free! ” 

A robin, the little John the Baptist of the spring, 
hopped about on the Hastings lawn, and looked 
very wise as he chirped his announcement of 
Spring’s coming. When Ezekiel Martin saw two 
crows flying over Chandler’s meadow, all Peacedale 
knew that winter was hastening to the world of 
frozen waters in the north. 

Cecily was shivering on her way home from 
school. She had left Toni with Lex, who was still 
invalided at Jim’s cottage, though he was now in the 
final stage of convalescence. 

260 


A WITHERED ROMANCE 


261 


“ Ugh I ” she shuddered as she let the gate swing 
behind her with a bang. “ This wind is strong 
enough to tear one to pieces.” 

She ran up the driveway, and as she drew near 
the house, the front door opened and she saw Aunt 
Olivia standing just inside. 

“Cecily, Cecily dear!” Aunt Olivia’s voice 
quivered with suppressed excitement. “ Come into 
my room.” 

There was a vivid flush in her cheeks, and her 
eyes held an unaccustomed sparkle. Cecily fol- 
lowed her aunt into the large bedroom, where an 
open newspaper had been tossed on the bed. 

“ He is here ! He is to sing in Portland to-mor- 
row ! ” cried Aunt Olivia, and she pointed to a para- 
graph near the top of the paper. 

Cecily read: 

“ Herr Franz von Geyer, the celebrated German 
tenor, who achieved an international reputation by 
his wonderful performances of Lohengrin and Par- 
sifal, will give a recital at Selmar Hall on Friday 
evening. Herr von Geyer’s voice is phenomenal, 
for, despite his lengthy and brilliant career, it still 
retains the limpid freshness of youth. At a recent 
recital in New York, at Carnegie Hall, his singing 
met with a furor of applause; and, in order to 
gratify the demands of the thousands who were un- 
able to secure seats, he will give another recital there 


262 


RAINBOW GOLD 


next week, before sailing for Europe. Portland is 
therefore to be congratulated on having an oppor- 
tunity of hearing this rare artist, who will probably 
not visit America again.” 

Oh, Aimt Olivia ! ” cried Cecily, embracing her 
aunt. “ You — ^we must go over to-morrow and 
hear him. Your longing will be gratified at last! ” 

“ It seems so strange,” mused Aunt Olivia. 
“ I shall go to hear him — after many years. To 
think that he still sings 1 He has not grown old, as 
I have.” 

“ Well, singers always take such wonderful care 
of themselves,” laughed Cecily. “ They keep their 
digestions in perfect order, and never get their weet 
fet — I mean feet wet. And so they don’t grow 
old; they simply spread out and get fat. Besides, 
I should think that a tenor voice would help to keep 
a man young.” 

The next day Cecily and her aunt took a late 
afternoon train to Portland. They drove to the 
Treble House and engaged a room, as there was no 
train leaving at a convenient time that night for 
Peacedale. 

After the evening dinner they dressed for the 
concert. Their room was large, with massive fur- 
niture. On one side a door led into their private 
bathroom. On the opposite side a bureau was 


A WITHERED ROMANCE 


263 


placed before another door, which connected with 
the next room. 

Aunt Olivia wore a gi’ay silk dress, with a foam of 
creamy lace at the throat and wrists. Just before 
dinner Cecily had gone out to a florist’s up the 
street, and bought some deep crimson roses, which 
she now fastened on her aunt’s dress. 

“ I’m going to arrange your hair. Aunt Olivia,” 
she said. “ Those braids wound coronet-fashion 
about your head are lovely, but we must loosen the 
hair over your forehead. So! Now, that softens 
the outline. Why do you always have your hair 
drawn back so tightly? It waves so prettily on 
your forehead. I’m very proud of you ! ” She 
kissed her aunt, who gazed at her reflection in the 
mirror with an air of bewilderment. 

“Oh, Cecily! I feel so strange! It is like 
drifting back into the past — through a mist of 
dreams.” 

When they reached Selmar Hall they found the 
lobby crowded, and the only seats Cecily could se- 
cure were in a box. An usher conducted them to 
the box. They found one seat already occupied by 
a plump, moon-faced woman, whose blond hair had 
escaped in sundry places from diamond-studded 
tortoise-shell pins and stuck out like bits of yellow 
wire. She wore a black net dress, all aglitter with 


264 


RAINBOW GOLD 


sequins, and her fat, pudgy hands were bedecked 
with sparkling rings. 

With a friendly smile she pushed her chair aside 
and made room for Cecily, also indicating that there 
was still space enough for Aunt Olivia’s chair in the 
front. 

“ Thank you; my aunt prefers to sit behind us,” 
said Cecily. 

“ Ach so! ” the stranger nodded. “ I always sit 
near die stage, ven mein husband sings. It pleases 
me to see die people, die audience rejoice and make 
die applause ven mein husband sings. He is so 
great, so wunderschon! ” 

Cecily glanced back at her aunt. Yes, she had 
heard! She sat in the shadow of the box, with her 
slender, gloved hands clasped in her lap, and a little 
shower of crimson petals fell, one by one, from the 
roses pinned on her breast. 

“ Aunt Olivia’s heart’s blood,” thought Cecily. 

The garrulous frau continued: “ It is dat mein 
husband comes no more to America, and it pleases 
me much. I have in my heart no love for dis coun- 
try; but I travel always mit mein husband. In die 
opera, ven I vas young, I sing in die chorus. I 
marry him den. A man is so like a child; and a 
singer more a child still. So he needs me always, 
always ! ” 


A WITHERED ROMANCE 265 


She fanned herself vigorously with a huge fan, 
in the centre of which was painted a scene from 
Lohengrin, showing the Swan Knight floating 
down the Scheldt. 

“ New York is die only place I have gladly in dis 
country. But dis ceety, dis Portland, you call it? 
is so cold, so drear! Mein husband vill sing here; 
he insists, and we come. As I say always — a singer 
is a great child.” 

The accompanist, a small, dark man, walked over 
towards the piano with an expression of gloomy 
resignation. If the Steinway, with its raised lid 
and gleaming keys, had been a monster dragon with 
wide-open jaws waiting to devour him, he could 
not have looked more doleful as he slunk across the 
platform. 

After a preamble of scales, trills, and dainty 
staccato chords, he paused for a moment and a hush 
fell , over the audience. Then he crashed into the 
opening chords of Liszt’s “ Sixth Rhapsody.” He 
played Avell, but every one was eager to hear the 
tenor, so he was given but perfunctory applause 
when he had finished. 

Programs rustled, conversation buzzed. Then 
a tense silence of a second broke out into sponta- 
neous applause, as a bulky, black-suited form, with 
a shining acre of white shirt-front, emerged from 


266 


RAINBOW GOLD 


the palms which surrounded the door leading onto 
the stage. Cecily held her breath. So this was 
Franz von Geyer! This huge man, who, with his 
bulging figure and bristling mop of blond hair, re- 
sembled a gigantic stein overflowing with foaming 
lager. 

“ Ach! he is so wunderschon! sighed the frowsy 
frau. “ He vill ever wear a red rose ven he sings.” 

It was a varied and interesting program, and the 
tenor sang delightfully. The audience applauded 
each number with wild enthusiasm, but the singer 
responded only with awkward bows and broad 
smiles. 

“Ach! he sings like an angel!” murmured the 
blissfully adoring wife. 

Cecily did not look back at Aunt Olivia. “ I am 
so glad we are in this box, where Aunt Olivia can 
sit by herself in that dark corner,” she thought. 
“ But the wonderful Franz is so unromantic to look 
at, though his wife is right — he sings like an angel.” 

She closed her eyes to listen, and to create an illu- 
sion that it was an angel singing, and not a man 
who made her think of suet, lard, and sausages. 

After the third group of songs the tenor unex- 
pectedly walked to the footlights; and the accom- 
panist sneaked over to the piano, like a small terrier 
whose master had just beaten him. 


A WITHERED ROMANCE 


267 


The great tenor sang the very song that had won 
Aunt Olivia’s heart years before. 

Cecily turned. Aunt Olivia had risen and was 
fastening the clasps of her long fur coat with nerv- 
ous haste. 

There was a burst of applause, but the tenor did 
not appear. The pianist came forward and began 
Chopin’s “ Ballade in G-minor,” and the audience 
gi’ew still. Frau von Geyer rose from her seat. 

“ Is it dat you are ill? ” She addressed Aunt 
Olivia, and held out a jeweled vinaigrette. 

“No, I thank you.” Aunt Olivia looked 
down at the friendly, perturbed face with a sad 
smile. 

“You go? You not stay? Ach! you miss so 
much!” There was anxious regret in the whis- 
pered words. 

Aunt Olivia shook her head. 

“ Ach ! I have on die rosen put my feet ! ” the 
frau exclaimed, as she noticed the rose-petals on the 
floor where she was standing. 

“ They are only the petals,” replied Aunt Olivia, 
and the same wistful smile flitted across her face. 
She held out her hand. “ It is — ^necessary for — us 
to leave — ^now. You must be — ^very proud — to 
hear your husband sing so beautifully.” 

“ You miss so much — so much! ” The frau re- 


268 


RAINBOW GOLD 


sumed her seat, and Cecily and her aunt stole from 
the box as the audience applauded the “ Ballade.” 

When they reached their room at the hotel, Aunt 
Olivia seemed dazed, and allowed Cecily to remove 
her wraps. The roses on her breast had shed all 
their petals. She unfastened them and laid them 
gently on the bureau. 

Cecily did not speak. She hung up their things, 
and, after removing her dress, began to brush her 
soft brown hair. 

“ Cecily, he — looked like this in the old days — 
long ago.” 

Cecily tossed her hair back from her face, and 
saw her aunt holding out a photograph in a soft 
leather frame. She took it in her hand. It was a 
handsome youth she gazed at; tall and slender, with 
a military bearing which gave him the air of a 
young prince. Except for his bushy hair, the pho- 
tograph bore no resemblance to the famous tenor. 

“ Oh, Aunt Olivia ! ” Cecily could say no more, 
and she gave the picture back. 

It was Aunt Olivia’s custom to play solitaire for 
half an hour before retiring; and when Cecily, in 
nightgoAvn and dainty blue robe, with cheeks glow- 
ing from a hot bath, returned to the room, she found 
her aunt seated at the table with the cards arranged 
before her. 


A WITHERED ROMANCE 269 

She looked up. “ Do you want to sleep right 
away, Cecily? Will the light disturb you? ” 

Cecily leaned over and kissed her. “ No, Aunt 
Olivia. I feel like reading, and I’ll finish a maga- 
zine story I began before dinner.” 

She arranged her pillows in a pile, and sat in bed 
with her knees drawn up, supporting the magazine. 

Presently a murmuring sound came through the 
closed door, and a man’s voice, speaking in fretful 
tones, was distinctly heard, while a woman answered 
with a patient, placating tenderness. They spoke 
in German, which Aunt Olivia and Cecily under- 
stood. The girl involuntarily looked at her aunt. 
The cards fell from the nervous fingers; some 
clicked upon the bare table and others dropped 
noiselessly to the floor. The occupants of the next 
room were undoubtedly Franz von Geyer and his 
adoring wife. 

Suddenly the man hurled a storm of abuse, vin- 
dictive and passionate, at his wife, who remained 
quite unruffled, and answered with a placidity which 
seemed to irritate the angry man. He could be 
heard pacing up and down, and his violence in- 
creased every moment. 

You must not drive me into scenes like this,” 
he roared. “My voice, it is precious! My tem- 
perament must be considered; and you tell me, you 


270 


RAINBOW GOLD 


dare to tell me, that there is no sherry for me to take 
with my egg. I need it! I must have it! You 
must get it ! My voice, my voice ! ” 

“ But I have explained that the flask was broken,” 
her smooth voice gently protested; “ that all the 
sherry leaked out. And here it is impossible to 
procure some more sherry — in this city — in this 
State. It is not my fault. I have done my best. 
You must not allow yourself to become so dis- 
traught. You must save your wonderful voice.” 

'' Ach! that is it,” he stormed. I must save my 
voice, and you — you — and every one — ^you do your 
best to destroy it. Mein Gott! save my voice! 
And no sherry with my egg. It is an outrage — an 
egg without sherry ! ” 

Lieber Franz, let me brush your beautiful hair 
and soothe you! So, sit down; and just for once 
take your egg without sherry.” 

Ach! ” he almost screamed. “ My egg! No 
sherry ! My voice, my precious voice ! ” 

“ Come, come, you will feel better when I brush 
your hair. There, there, your wonderful hair — 
your crown of gold! Is it not better so? ” 

The big man wept. ''Ach my wonderful hair! 
ISly wonderful voice! No sherry! N-n-n-no sh- 
sh-sh-sherry ! ” 

Cecily kept her eyes on her magazine, but she 


A WITHERED ROMANCE 


271 


could not distinguish the words. She dared not 
look at her aunt. What would Aunt Olivia think? 
It was tragic and — funny, too. She wanted to 
laugh; she wanted to cry. What a pity this had 
happened to spoil Aunt Olivia’s beautiful romantic 
memory of the evening I It had converted the ro- 
mance into a farce. She summoned up courage 
and looked over towards the table. 

Aunt Olivia sat there — laughing! 

For one wild, anxious moment Cecily thought 
her aunt had suddenly become insane. She leaped 
out of bed and ran across the room. 

“ Aunt Olivia! ” 

“ Cecily dear, don’t look like that,” she said, tak- 
ing the trembling girl in her arms. 

Cecily gazed wonderingly down at her aunt’s 
face. “ I’m so sorry this has happened, Aunt 
Olivia. It is such a pity ! ” 

“ My dear child, I am glad it has happened. It 
is just what I needed.” 

Cecily drew back in surprise. Aunt Olivia must 
be mad! 

“ Years ago, Cecily, my life was blighted by a 
frost; and I have been withered and weak ever 
since. It was all very sad and tragic; and I suf- 
fered terribly, terribly! Now, when a plant is in- 
jured by the frost, what does the gardener do? He 


272 


RAINBOW GOLD 


cuts it back to the very root. He doesn’t let it 
struggle along, with its blighted leaves and blos- 
soms. Then what happens? The plant j)uts forth 
new shoots, and lives again, strong and sturdy. 
To-night I have had my pruning and cutting. I 
am going to throw away the withered leaves and 
flowers of my romance. I am going to grow again I 
It has hurt me, but I know I needed it.” 

“ Why, Aunt Olivia! ” exclaimed Cecily. “ You 
are wonderful! I thought this would break your 
heart, but you look like some one who has stepped 
out of the mists into sunlight.” 

Aunt Olivia gathered up the cards. She packed 
them together and placed them in the leather case. 
She removed her hairpins, and two long silver 
braids fell over her rose-colored dressing-gown. 
She began to brush the soft waves of hair, and 
presently paused to listen, with the brush raised in 
her hand. 

Franz von Geyer sang for a moment in an under- 
tone. A little phrase of Schubert’s “ Serenade ” 
drifted in from the other room and sank into silence. 

Aunt Olivia shook her head and glanced at Cecily 
with a little twisted smile, half -tender, half-wistful. 

“ I don’t think I shall ever care for that song 
again,” she said; “ or red roses, either.” 


CHAPTER XXI 


THE STARRIEST WAY 
Dear old Daddy: 

“ Oh, wonderful, wonderful ! Most wonder- 
ful, wonderful! And yet again wonderful! And 
after that ” — ^well, I will share the magic secret with 
you ! Spring is here ! 

Two days ago it was cold; shivery, wet, clammy 
cold. It seemed as if all the cold weather of the 
winter had been wrapped up in mist and given to 
this one day. The naked trees in the orchard, with 
their boughs all turned inland, looked as if a host of 
Daphnes, pursued by the wind, had taken root as 
apple-trees instead of laurels. 

That night a strange, unseen visitant came and 
left behind her a warm, moist day. The earth was 
given a Turkish bath. It was baked and steamed. 
A lovely, wet, earthy smell was in the air; and a 
breeze, like baby sighs, kissed all the hard leaf-buds 
on the bare trees. 

This morning a sunbeam slanted through the 
window, across my bedroom floor, and crawled up 
the opposite wall. When I looked out, I saw bare 
lawns, brown, bleak fields, and skeleton-boughed 
trees all draped in a faint shimmer of green, — a 
gauzy veil of Spring’s weaving. 

273 


274 


RAINBOW GOLD 


“ Spring is here!” laughed the ocean; and the 
sun wrote the phrase all over the sky, — words of 
sunlight on a parchment of blue. 

Oh, Daddy dear! if I could only sit on your knee 
again, and pull your ears, and tell you what a really 
dear person you are, and how much I love you I I 
want you, want you so much ! 

I wish you could see Cecily now. She is getting 
prettier every day. She is just as sweet and dainty 
as a bunch of apple-blossoms. She and Aunt Olivia 
are great friends. 

Aunt Olivia is wonderfully changed. She al- 
ways seemed to me like a mummy, wrapped up in 
innumerable swathings for years and years. One 
could see just a vague, shapeless something, and 
could only form hazy conjectures as to what was 
hidden under those wrappings of silence and cold 
reserve. Now she has thrown aside those wrap- 
pings and come forth a princess. Of course, she is 
not a youthful princess, but there is a charm about 
her that suggests youth; like the perfume of the 
spices and essences that were laid in her mummy- 
casings. Spring has come to Aunt Olivia’s heart. 

Basil is working with his music. He and Aunt 
Priscilla read in the afternoons, after they have 
strolled together on the south veranda. Her con- 
versation is not nearly so humphy as it used to be. 
She and Basil are great chums. He looks much 
stronger. This climate agrees with him ; and Aunt 
Priscilla’s bracing ways have done him good. 

So, you see, Cecily has Aunt Olivia, and Basil has 
Aunt Priscilla; but Toni, your poor little Toni, has 
no one. In desperation I might seize on Grand- 


THE STARRIEST WAY 


275 


father; but he has been like a “ fretful porpentine ” 
lately, bristling with sarcasm and ill-humor. 

Lex has gone to Boston. He spent ten days 
with us, and then Dr. Drummond came and took 
him away. I miss him dreadfully. Dear old Lex! 
Life is full of priceless possibilities for him now. 

So I have no chummy friend left. That is why 
I can’t get over the ache of wanting you. We were 
such jolly old comrades, weren’t we? Of course, I 
have my good times, but nothing seems quite right 
without you. My pleasures are crumpled and 
wrinkled, as if they had been bought at Life’s bar- 
gain-counter of ready-made joys — ^greatly reduced. 

All my joys are misfits without you. 

Toni. 

Mr. Hastings sat in his study, reading. The 
windows were opened wide, and through the flutter- 
ing curtains came glimpses of the garden, with a 
huge bed of crocuses looking like dabs of paint 
splashed on an artist’s palette. The trees were al- 
most in full leaf, and millions of flower-buds were 
bursting with eagerness to unfold their petals. 
Three old apple-trees, twisted and bent, had been 
allowed to remain in the garden, like old pensioners, 
though their fruit had been withered and worm- 
eaten for years. Their spreading boughs were 
leafy, and their buds were like pink pearls set in 
green. Another warm day would turn these old 
trees into immense bridal bouquets. 


276 


RAINBOW GOLD 


Toni knocked at the study-door. “ I have 
brought the mail, Grandfather,” she called. 

He looked up. “ Come in.” 

She gave him his letters. In her left arm she 
held a sheaf of daffodils. 

“ Aren’t these flowers wonderful. Grandfather? 
They look like blossoming sunlight, don’t they? I 
am going to give them to you. They will look 
lovely in that ugly, valuable, Chinese bowl.” 

“ Be careful! That jar could not be re- 
placed.” 

While he read his letters she brought water for 
the bowl, and arranged the blossoms and spear-like 
leaves with a careless, natural grace that gave them 
the appearance of growing in the dim comer. 

“There!” flicking the drops from her fingers. 
“Aren’t they wonderful? Oh, Grandfather, doesn’t 
a day like this make you tingle with joy? Don’t 
you feel that the world has been freshly made over, 
just for you? ” 

He smiled. “ Is that how you feel? ” 

“Yes. For some unexplained reason my heart 
is filled with dizzy-fizzying stuff called joy. The 
sun has polished everything up; the air is a-tingle 
with triumph; the breeze is dancing tiptoe; and I 
must keep in step with the world. Somehow, I feel 
that something good is coming to me. I can’t help 


THE STARRIEST WAY 277 

being happy in such a beautiful, shiny-bright 
world! ” 

“ Ah, well, you are a child. Hold on to your 
rainbows of faith as long as you can. Soon you 
will become old and wise, and you will see that the 
rainbows are rags, torn and dusty.” 

Toni sighed. “ Ah, Grandfather, I am not old 
or wise, but sometimes when I am sad I drag my 
rainbows through the dust and they are sadly 
torn and tangled. On a day like this I must fly 
my rainbows like kites, and they must go far, far up 
towards the sky ! ” 

“ Sit down, Toni.” 

She curled up in one of the big chairs. “I 
should like to remain with you for a little while. 
Grandfather. Cecily has gone off with Aunt 
Olivia along the shore. Basil is reading aloud to 
Aunt Priscilla some very dull, tiresome book on 
theosophy. I’m terribly lonesome these days ! ” 
She leaned her chin on her hand and looked at him 
wistfully. 

“ You miss Lex, I suppose.” 

Her face brightened. “ Miss Lex? Indeed I 
do!” 

“ How are you getting along at the Academy? ” 

“ Very well. Mr. Gifford says I am improving 
in algebra. It’s time I did.” 


278 


RAINBOW GOLD 


“ I was not referring to lessons. How are you 
getting along with your fellow-pupils? ” 

She pursed her lips. “ Well, it isn’t as bad as it 
used to be. For a while it was terrible. You see, 
Grandfather, every one knows about — Dad; and 
for a time it was very hard for Cecily and me. It — 
it was dreadful. Some of the girls were — very 
cruel ; but we faced it out, and they are pleasanter 
now. It is some time since I have had newspaper 
clippings abqut prisons and convicts slipped into 
my desk. The other day we were studying ‘ The 
Prisoner of Chillon’; and I know every one 
thought of Dad, and rather pitied or despised us 
because of him. It hurts. Grandfather. It hurts ! ” 
her lips quivered. 

“ I think if I could see Dad just once it would 
give me courage. I want to see him so badly that 
the longing is like a bruise inside. Dad and I were 
such great pals.” 

“ You love your father, Toni? ” 

“ Love my father? ” she echoed with a deep sigh. 
“ Why, Grandfather, he’s — ^he’s — ^well, he’s Dad! ” 
Her face shone with a glow of love as she uttered 
the words. 

“ Did you love your mother as much? ” 

“Oh, yes! I loved my mother. She was so 
young and pretty. She devoted herself to Basil. 


THE STARRIEST WAY 


279 


He was delicate, and she seemed always to be trying 
to make up to him for all that he must miss in life 
on account of his infirmity. I was such a rollick- 
ing, healthy little person, I didn’t need her as much. 
And when she — died — I somehow helped Dad, and 
belonged specially to him. I never dreamed of 
being separated from Dad. That is why I feel so 
lonely now. It is dreadful to be lonely ! ” 

“ The others — Cecily and Basil — they don’t feel 
the same? ” he said after a pause. 

Toni half smiled. “ They are different. Cecily 
is the sort of girl who can be happy anywhere, for 
13eople always love her. She will probably marry 
young and drift away to a life of her own. Then 
Basil has his music, and he also can be happy any- 
where — with a good piano. So he does not depend 
upon any one — for his real life, I mean. But I am 
just Toni; and I can’t be happy without Dad. 
There is no life for me without him. When these 
long, dreary years are over, he will find the same old 
Toni waiting for him. A little lankier and more 
serious, perhaps; but still his pal, Toni! ” 

“ Toni, your father has been unfortunate; but — 
there are some people who might envy him, in spite 
of all. I don’t suppose you could, or would ever 
care for any one else — in that way.” 

“ No,” she replied slowly. “ I don’t think I ever 


280 


RAINBOW GOLD 


could. I am going to give my life to Dad. I want 
to make up to him for all he has suffered. So I feel 
I must give him all the love I could ever feel for 
other people. He must have it all. He needs it 
most.” 

“ You write to him often? ” 

“ Oh, yes ! As often as he is allowed to receive 
letters; but I have a funny little fancy, silly per- 
haps I should call it, which helps me a great deal. 
I ” She looked at him shyly. 

“ Let me hear it.” 

His voice was so kind, and there was a look of 
such wistful entreaty in his eyes, that she went on 
without hesitation. 

“ For a long, long time I have always felt that it 
was such a waste of time to sleep — if one didn’t do 
anything. Even as a tiny child I thought that, 
when dusk crept over the sky, we were very near to 
other worlds; and that, when we fell asleep, we 
could go to those other worlds if we wished. I 
don’t know where this notion came from. It sounds 
foolish, doesn’t it? ” 

“ Fantastic, but not altogether foolish,” he an- 
swered indulgently. 

“ So every night I would say to myself, ‘ Now I 
will go to a beautiful, far-away world.* Of course, 
I could never remember anything of my wonderful 


THE STARRIEST WAY 


281 


journeyings the next day; but I always felt that I 
had gone. It is such a comfort to me now to gratify 
this little whimsey of mine, for every night I im- 
agine I can join Dad somewhere in a world of 
dreams, where everything is gold that glitters, and 
where one meets all the people one has loved. 
There we wander together along the farthest starri- 
est way, far beyond the clouds.” 

Grandfather smiled. “ It is a pretty fancy. 
What a pity you can’t remember something about 
these starry expeditions when you return to the 
wide-awake world ! ” 

“ Yes,” sighed Toni. “ It would be glorious if I 
could actually know that I had seen Dad ; to have a 
vivid remembrance of having been with him. But 
I don’t think I come back empty-handed, or, rather, 
I should say, em^ty -hearted; for I believe there is 
something in my heart, vague and hazy, like the 
fragrance of some unknown flower, or the faint 
gleam of star-dust. Something that gives me the 
power of finding joy in each day, and helps me to 
straighten out the tangles of life. And, you know, 
life’s tangles are full of rainbow-threads. Perhaps 
that is why I was able to extract so much happiness 
from this wonderful day. I couldn’t help feeling 
happy, and I had to let my heart dance with the 
daffodils.” 


282 


RAINBOW GOLD 


She rose and crossed to his chair. “ It seems 
very strange to be talking to you in this way, 
Grandfather. I have never done it before with any 
one — but Dad.’' 

He took her hand in his. “ Toni, some day you 
might teach me how to find rainbow-threads in the 
tangles; if you don’t think I am too old. Thank 
you for the — daffodils.” 

When she had gone, he glanced over his mail 
again. There was one letter still unopened. It 
was from the lawyer, Robert Jameson — his friend, 

Jimmie.” He read it over. 

After a few lines of a friendly, personal nature, 
the writer continued: 

My appeal for a re-trial for Hamilton has been 
granted. There is no doubt of our being able to 
prove his innocence ; but, of course, we must expect 
the “ law’s delay ” and all that sort of thing. How- 
ever, Harding has succeeded in implicating the 
Vice President, Kershaw, who is being carefully 
watched. It is the most complicated piece of 
roguery I have ever come across. It took Harding 
to unearth it. There will be startling disclosures of 
perjury and bribery. Hamilton hadn’t the ghost 
of a chance before. 

Come down to New York soon, Hasty, and I’ll 
explain it all to you. 


Jimmie. 


THE STARRIEST WAY 


283 


Grandfather sat in silence for a few moments, 
tapping the letter gently on the arm of his chair. 

“ Jimmie may be too sanguine. I wish I could 
tell Toni, but I mustn’t let her know until Hamil- 
ton’s release is assured. If anything should mis- 
carry, the disappointment would be terrible for 
her.” 

He looked up to the curtained picture. “ Ah, 
’Toinette! I wonder if you understand! Have 
you met the child in her dream- journeys to the 
stars? ” 


CHAPTER XXII 
DANTE, RAPHAEL, AND ALADDIN 

A LARGE chestnut-tree marked the beginning of a 
narrow lane, which straggled from the main street 
down to the beach. The outspreading boughs were 
laden with spiral blossoms, and the breeze had 
smoothed out all the fluted folds of the fan-like 
leaves. 

On the right side of the lane was Porky Thomp- 
son’s home. The square brick house, with a man- 
sard roof and green-shuttered windows, stood near 
the street. The kitchen-garden and orchard lay 
behind the house, and edged upon the lane until it 
joined the sandy garden of Cyrus Grant, a Peace- 
dale fisherman. 

On the left side of the lane Jim Trefethen’s 
orchard looked over a high white picket-fence on 
the street; and beyond the foamy sea of pink- 
and- white bloom was the house. Jim’s gate was 
half-way down the lane, so that the house did 
not seem to belong to the street, but nestled 
among the trees, with its front windows looking to- 
284 


DANTE, RAPHAEL, AND ALADDIN 285 


wards the sea. A garden sloped from the house to 
the beach, which was known as Trefethen’s Cove. 
In this garden Ma’s flowers and Jim’s vegetables 
held friendly conference together. Where the sand 
and shells of the beach touched the coarse grass 
which fringed the garden, there were two frames on 
which Jim stretched his nets. Near by stood the lit- 
tle red boat-house, with a narrow landing the piles 
of which were encrusted with barnacles. 

Jim and Ma were in the garden when Toni en- 
tered the gate with her school-books on her arm. 
She waved a letter in one hand. 

“ I’ve just had a letter from Lex,” she cried. 
“ So I ran in to read it to you.” 

Ma rose from the shady bench where she had been 
knitting. 

‘‘ Sit down, Toni. I’ll bring out some raspberry 
cordial. Jim has been working at the garden since 
dinner-time, so it’s about time he had a rest.” 

Jim washed his hands at the pump, and presently 
Ma returned with a tray covered with a red-and- 
white fringed cloth, and containing three glasses of 
deep-red cordial and a plate of cookies. 

Toni read the letter to them, and after they had 
talked about Lex, Jim stood up. 

“ Say, Toni, I’ve got something to show you. 
Just step inside.” 


286 


RAINBOW GOLD 


They all went into the quaint little parlor. 

“ I sent off some more soap-coupons last week, 
and I just got the busts to-day.” 

He took a small bust from the top of the “ Home 
University ” shelves. 

“ Here’s Garibaldi. I’ve been reading about 
him lately, so I thought I’d like to have him in my 
Hall of Fame. I’ve been trying for months to get 
an Emerson, but every time I’ve sent in coupons 
the soap-firm has been out of Emersons. This time 
they had one left, but the nose was chipped off, so 
they sent me Dante instead.” 

Jim’s pronunciation gave but one syllable to the 
name of the illustrious Florentine. 

“ I’m not acquainted with Dant, but I’ll look him 
up in the ‘ Home University.’ He’s sure to be 
there if he’s any good, though I don’t think much 
of his face.” 

“ He was a great Italian poet,” explained Toni. 

“ By gum ! Have I got to learn Italian to read 
him?” exclaimed Jim. 

Toni laughed. “ Oh, no! You can get a trans- 
lation — by Longfellow — if you like.” 

“ Well, I’ll try it. He must be worth while, or 
Longfellow wouldn’t have bothered about him. I 
tell you, Toni, there’s nothing like reading good 
books. It’s like giving your soul a bath. Emer- 


DANTE, RAPHAEL, AND ALADDIN 287 


son now; one sentence of him just fills you with 
wisdom. It is like drawing in a ^ep breath of 
fresh air when the sun is shining and the wind is 
blowing everything clean. Emerson opens the 
windows of your mind and blows away the dust. 

“Now, here’s somethin’ else that’s new; and I 
guess you’ll like it. It cost me seventy-five cents, 
and it’s called ‘ Famous Madonnas ’ ; it gives pic- 
tures of the whole Madonna family.” 

He turned over the leaves of the illustrated book- 
let slowly. 

“ The thing that puzzles me is that they don’t 
look alike. No one would ever think they were re- 
lated, which, of course, they must be, since they’re 
all Madonnas. It’s an Irish name, I guess.” 

Toni smiled, but remained silent. 

“ There ! ” He showed her the Sistine Madonna. 
“Now that might be Ma herself! By gum! I 
wish that artist would come here for the summer. 
Lots of painting-fellows do. If this man. Raffle, 
came along, he could have his room and board free, 
if he’d paint a picture of Ma in exchange. I guess 
he’d be glad to do it on those terms; for I never met 
an artist yet who didn’t hesitate somewhat in paying 
his board-bill.” 

They went back to the garden and Jim resumed 
his weeding. “Now, Ma, look here! See what 


288 RAINBOW GOLD 

youVe left in the pansy-bed I a husky bit of 
weed.” 

“ Leave it alone, Jim,” responded Ma with a 
smile. “ I hadn’t the heart to pull it out. Poor 
despised thing! It is doing its best. I suppose 
I’m foolish, but it hurts me to pull up weeds, though, 
of course, it has to be done. I can’t help thinking 
of how the first little leaves rejoiced when they 
reached up through the dark mold and saw the blue 
sky and the sunlight. Perhaps it didn’t know it 
was only a weed. It may have dreamed of becom- 
ing a beautiful fiower. And so it struggles and 
grows and does its best, only to be torn from its 
home and cast away to wither. It is a failure in the 
flower-world. And I’m always sorry for the 
failures.” 

“ There are lots of things in this world that’s hard 
to understand,” observed Jim. “ Failure, sorrow, 
and sin. And some folks wonder why the Lord 
allows such things to be. Now, I reckon it this 
way. It may be that even the Lord couldn’t make 
the world perfect. He gave the world a pretty 
good start, and then it had to grow by itself. Now, 
if I plant a tree, I give it good soil, fertilizer, and 
a support ; but, by gum ! the tree’s got to do its own 
growing.” 

Toni nodded her head. “You’re right, Jim.** 


DANTE, RAPHAEL, AND ALADDIN 289 


“ And yet folks kick about life, and wonder why 
there’s so much evil. It would be a good sight 
better if they’d wonder at the good, the beauty, the 
joy, and the love in the world! Just think what a 
blessing light is 1 But we take it without thinking 
of the wonder of it. Yet if we had to pay a gas-bill 
for daylight, we’d see some value in it.” 

“ Many folks haven’t thought things out the way 
you have, Jim,” said Ma. “ It seems to me that 
you’d make a good preacher. I think we are all 
like little children learning to walk. We stumble 
and fall and hurt ourselves, just as a little child does 
when he is trying to balance himself. He cries, but 
he doesn’t give up trying. Perhaps he understands 
in some strange way that if the earth wasn’t hard 
enough to hurt him when he fell, it wouldn’t be hard 
enough for him to walk on.” 

“ It’s difficult to look at it in that way when one 
has just had a bad fall,” said Toni. 

“ Yes, I know.” Ma gently pressed the girl’s 
hand. “ But pain is really the wrong side of 

joy-” 

They sat in silence and Jim continued his weed- 
ing. 

“ Say, Toni, next Saturday I want to take some 
of you young folks for a sail over to Portland. 
There are several battle-ships in the harbor, and it’ll 


290 


RAINBOW GOLD 


be a sight worth seeing. I’ll come over with Polly 
Feemus and drive Basil here, and the three of you 
will have dinner with us. Then we’ll sail through 
Casco Bay. I spoke to Kathryn Lindsay and 
Floss Thompson, and they’re crazy to go; and I 
guess Teddy Hale and Bobby Sterling will be with 
us, too.” 

“ That will be lovely, Jim! ” cried Toni. “ I’ve 
been longing to see the battle-ships. It will be a 
glorious treat. I hope the weather will not disap- 
point us.” 

The following Saturday was beautifully clear 
with the freshness of May; and early in the after- 
noon a joyous party of seven young people started 
off with Ma and Jim in his big sail-boat. Lazy 
white clouds were like ships becalmed in the blue 
sky. The sea was sparkling with sunlight, and the 
islands were green and fresh, as if they had just 
risen in virgin splendor from the sea; a group of 
Aphrodites clad in emerald glory. 

The great white-and-yellow battle-ships were ly- 
ing at anchor, and small craft sailed or steamed by 
with an air of busy importance. 

“ If there’s one thing in this world I don’t like, 
it’s a motor-boat,” observed Jim, as one noised by 
them. “ I’d think I was insulting the ocean if I 
had one of them.” 


DANTE, RAPHAEL, AND ALADDIN 291 

“ They’re very useful and speedy,” said Florence 
Thompson. 

“ That’s true. But I don’t like the way they rip 
through the waves, as if the ocean was a bit of rotten 
flannel for them to cut to pieces. It is rip, rip, rip, 
with them. Puff, puff, puff, they go. Each 
blooming gasoline launch seems to be saying as loud 
as it can: ‘ The sea is mine and I made it.’ ” 

“ There’s something so romantic about a sail- 
boat,” said Toni. “We go skimming along as if 
we were borne by the wings of a wonderful bird. 
We can hear the splash and swirl of the waters, and 
feel that we are a part of the sea; and the salt wind 
is the breath of heaven,” she finished with a deep- 
drawn breath. 

Presently Jim pulled down the sails and thej^ 
drifted between two battle-ships, spotless and shin- 
ing. On slanting lines, stretched from masts to 
decks, hung middies and trousers, flapping in the 
wind. The decks were lined with sailors, most of 
whom were leaning over the railing, gazing down 
upon the passing boats. 

“ They all seem to be asleep,” said Kathryn. 
“ Let’s wake them up with ‘ The Star-Spangled 
Banner.’ ” 

Teddy and Bobby took out their mouth-organs 
and began to play. The others sang with patriotic 


292 


RAINBOW GOLD 


fervor, but there was no sign of interest shown by 
the sailors. Then they sang “ My Country ’tis of 
Thee,” but still the boys in blue failed to respond. 

“ One would think we were performing dirges, 
they look so solemn. It is exasperating,” Toni re- 
marked, when a lusty singing of “ Columbia the 
Gem of the Ocean ” had been greeted with the same 
disappointing apathy. 

“ I thought they would at least take their hats 
off,” said Cecily. 

“ Perhaps they are all deaf,” Bobby grinned. 

“ How would it be if we threw kisses at them? ” 
asked Kathryn with a merry chuckle. 

“ Oh, Kathryn! ” protested Florence. 

“ I’d do almost anything to wake them up,” re- 
plied Kathryn. 

“ They are so lifeless and still, they look as if 
they were painted on the sides of the ship,” said 
Basil. 

Ma smiled. “ Try them with ‘ Has Anybody 
Here Seen Kelly? ’ ” 

“ I bet a ham sandwich to a lobster salad that 
‘ Kelly ’ will rouse them,” laughed Bobby. 

“ Kelly ” succeeded. Every sailor had appar- 
ently seen Kelly and liked him immensely. Per- 
haps each sailor was the immortal Kelly himself! 
Off came the hats. The boys danced and cheered; 


DANTE, RAPHAEL, AND ALADDIN 293 

and when the song ended there was a burst of vocif- 
erous applause. 

“ So much for the loyalty and patriotism of our 
country’s defenders,” remarked Toni with a laugh. 

Jim raised the great white sail and they departed 
with a waving of hats and handkerchiefs. The dar- 
ing Kathryn threw a kiss, to which the sailors, now 
roused and interested, responded nobly. They re- 
turned the salutation, and cheered again and again, 
until the sailing-party had passed out of sight. 

They had brought their supper with them in bas- 
kets, and picnicked on Peak’s Island, under the 
willows at the back of the summer theatre. 

“ I wish it would hurry and grow dark, for I’m 
longing to see the searchlight drill,” said Florence, 
brushing some crumbs from her lap. 

Across the bay the city seemed afire with the glow 
of a crimson sunset. The tide was out, and strips 
of seaweed, left by the receding waves, lay on the 
beach. The bay was incarnadined with the sun’s 
splendor. Little ripples, drifting from the swell of 
a passing steamer, lost themselves in a faint whisper 
on the sand, and then everything was still. 

“ Recite something, Toni,” suggested Ma. 

Toni leaned against the trunk of the great willow, 
and looked towards the sunset. In subdued tones 
she recited Longfellow’s “ My Lost Youth 


294 


RAINBOW GOLD 


“And the beauty and mystery of the ships, 

And the magic of the sea. 

And the voice of the wayward song 
Is singing and saying still : 

‘A boy’s will is the wind’s will, 

And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts.’ ’’ 

The bay was like a sheet of crimson and gold 
under a shimmering haze of amethyst. The colors 
softened, and gray shadows stole over the water. 
At the end of the poem there was a hush; and then, 
with a deep, long sigh, the tide turned. Little 
waves crept in shyly. The sun disappeared, and 
from the fort came the boom of the sunset gun. 
The dusk deepened into purple, and one little star 
shone like a drop of liquid gold. Lights began to 
twinkle from the city, and the lanterns on vessels at 
anchor gleamed like runaway stars that had wan- 
dered from the sky. Suddenly the battle-ships, 
which were like bulky shadows, blazed forth with 
incandescent lights. 

“ Oh ! they look as if every bit of the rigging were 
strung with stars ! ” cried Toni. 

“ It’s a naval fairyland,” added Teddy Hale. 

“ I guess we’ll get back to the ‘ Rosemary,* ’* said 
Jim. “ And we’ll drift out a bit.” 

By the time they were settled in the boat it was 
quite dark. Long shafts of silvery light streamed 
from the ships, and the searchlight drill began. 


DANTE, RAPHAEL, AND ALADDIN 295 


There were endless exclamations of “ Oh’s ” and 
“ Ah’s,” as they watched the shifting splendor. 
The vast rays crossed and re-crossed, weaving them- 
selves into a web of radiance, and embroidering the 
sky with fantastic designs as they flashed up and 
down. 

“ Wouldn’t it seem strange to some old astron- 
omer of ancient times, Copernicus for instance, if 
he could suddenly see, without understanding the 
cause, all these shooting lights? ” said Toni. “ He 
would think the planetary system had gone mad; 
that the meteors were drunk; and the comets were 
crazy.” 

“ ‘ And certain stars shot madly from their 
spheres,’ as Shakespeare, Milton, or some other old 
Johnny said,” laughed Teddy. 

“ Oh! how wonderful it has been! ” cried Toni, as 
a breeze seized their sails and carried them away. 
“ You have given us an Arabian Night entertain- 
ment, Jim, — full of joy and splendor. We have 
been watching the magic of Aladdin’s Lamp I ” 


CHAPTER XXIII 

THE FIRE OF DRIFTWOOD AND A LONELY STAR 

The poplar walk led from the west side of the 
house to the pine forest, which clothed the rocky 
promontory stretching far into the sea. The walk 
was paved with red brick, greened over with moss 
and laid in zigzag, “ herring-bone ” patterns. Tall, 
slender poplars stood in serried lines. A sea-born 
breeze kept their leaves quivering, but there was no 
sound of rustling among the boughs. 

One afternoon Mr. Hastings, according to his 
daily custom, paced along the poplar walk; and 
Toni, tossing her school-books on a circular seat 
under an apple-tree, joined him. 

“ May I walk and talk with you for a little while. 
Grandfather? ** 

He nodded with an acquiescent smile, and she 
walked beside him when he turned towards the 
forest. 

“ Don’t these poplars seem like soldiers standing 
at attention as you pass by? Doesn’t it make you 
feel like some monarch, with the Royal Guard in 
uniforms of green on either side of you? ” 

296 


THE FIRE OF DRIFTWOOD 297 


“ That fancy hadn’t occurred to me,” replied 
Grandfather. 

“ Look at that silver poplar ahead of us ! He 
has his boughs outspread, instead of holding them 
pointed stiffly upward, as these well-trained poplars 
do. We must have him court-martialed. When 
the king and princess pass by, he should not stand 
in that lackadaisical way. But perhaps he is a 
Walter Raleigh, throwing his cloak of shade over 
the bricks for us to walk on.” 

They had reached the end of the walk before she 
spoke again. “ Grandfather,” she said when they 
began to retrace their steps, “ do you remember, 
when I first came here, that you spoke of my learn- 
ing stenography and typewriting? ” 

A muttered growl was his only response, and she 
continued: “ You said I might take a course at a 
business college when I had finished my work at the 
Academy; but, if you don’t mind, I should like to 
begin now. In a few days the holidays will be here, 
and I could go to Portland two or three times a 
week for lessons. All winter I have been studying 
shorthand by myself; but I should like to take it up 
seriously now, and rent a typewriter, so that I could 
practice at home during the summer.” 

“What is your reason for wanting to begin 
now? ” 


298 


RAINBOW GOLD 


Toni hesitated. “You see, Grandfather, I 

Well, I want to do something real and worth while 
with my life; and I don’t want to fritter my summer 
away. I want to get something started right away.” 

“ Then you are ambitious to be a typist and sten- 
ographer? ” he asked, glancing at her sharply. 

“ My ambition reaches higher than that. Grand- 
father. I’m afraid I have propped my ladder 
against a cloud, because I want to reach up to the 
stars — some day. Still, typing and ‘ stenogging ’ 
will help me to climb; they may prove the first 
rungs on the ladder. Anjrway, I want to work 
now. I want to begin to climb. I — I hope you 
don’t object, Grandfather.” 

He looked down at her pleading face. It was so 
bright and eager and girlish; and yet in the dark 
eyes there lurked a little shadow, a hint of the 
poignant sorrow which had darkened her young 
life. Even her smiling lips were curved with a 
vague suggestion of hidden pain. 

“ H’m ! I don’t see any reason against it,” he 
said. 

Toni clapped her hands. “ Then I may begin at 
once? If you will pay for the lessons, I can pay 
for renting the typewriter with the allowance you 
give me.” 

“ No, keep your allowance. I’ll buy a type- 


THE FIRE OF DRIFTWOOD 299 


writer, and you can pay for it by doing some work 
for me when you have learned to use the machine 
properly.” 

“ Oh! let me be your secretary and help you with 
your book.” 

“ Not too soon, young lady! I don’t want my 
manuscripts spoiled with a novice’s blunders.” 

“ I can’t thank you enough with words. Grand- 
father. But I’ll work hard and try to show my 
gratitude with deeds. Thank you, Grandfather; 
you’ve started me on the ladder. May I begin next 
week? ” 

“ Yes. I’ll make arrangements for you at once.’’ 

The following Monday, Toni began her lessons. 
She went to Portland three mornings a week, and 
practised sedulously on the typewriter every day. 
This entailed some sacrifice, for it was hard to re- 
main indoors when Jime was wooing the world out- 
side. 

All the promises of April and May were fulfilled 
in this month of roses. The pink-tinted snows of 
Maytime had drifted from the blossoming boughs; 
but the lilacs still wore their plumes, and the laurels 
were a glory of waxen chalices. Mornings came 
from the east in rosy clouds, and tripped over the 
sea, leaving golden footprints behind. The hours 
were a mingled delight of bird-songs and roses. 


300 


RAINBOW GOLD 


Each day, like a child weary of play, sank to sleep 
as if too tired to gather up the crimson clouds which 
were scattered like toys in the western corner of the 
sky. The nights were fragrant and dewy, filled 
with the dreamy enchantment of moonlight. 

Lex came up from Boston for a week-end in 
June. 

“How you have changed!” cried Cecily, when 
she met him at the station with Toni and Jun. 

“ I believe you are getting handsome,” added 
Toni, with twinkling eyes. 

“ And you’ll soon be calling your hair auburn in- 
stead of red, Alexander,” laughed Jim. 

Lex rubbed his closely-cropped head with a rue- 
ful smile. “ Jim, you’re a flatterer; for every hair 
upon my head is crimson, ruddy, and plain red! 
You see what Boston has done for me! I’m break- 
ing out in rhyme. How is Ma? I’m dying for one 
of her dumplings ! ” 

“ And you’ll have ’em to-night,” replied Jim. 
“ Stewed chicken and dumplings tops the me-n-you. 
All you young folks are going to have supper with 
Ma and me. Basil is at the house with Ma now.” 

On the way to Jim’s cottage they were frequently 
waylaid with greetings and congratulations for 
Lex. 

“My grief and patience!” exclaimed Mandy 


THE FIRE OF DRIFTWOOD 301 


Fly. “ If this ain’t Alexander! Well, what do 
yuh know about that? I’d never’ ve known yuh, 
Alexander. My, but yuh’ve filled out some since 
yuh went to Boston! Well, well, well! Yuh used 
to be skinnier than the peddler’s blind horse. Now 
yuh must come over while yuh’re in Peacedale and 
have a bite with me and Steve. Well, well, well! ” 

“ Seems like you were getting popular, Alexan- 
der,” said Jim as they went along. 

“ I imagine my blue serge suit won Mandy,” re- 
plied Lex. “ She never noticed me before, in the 
days of the old gray Norfolk. Clothes certainly 
count for something.” 

“ Sure-lee ! ” said Jim. “ A book with good 
binding always draws attention.” 

“ I think good clothes help one’s own feelings, 
too,” observed Cecily. “ When I feel blue, I al- 
ways put on my best dress and a fresh hair-ribbon; 
and if I add my bronze slippers and silk stockings, 
I feel jositively poyful — I mean positively joy- 
ful!” 

“ I believe Mandy Fly dresses according to her 
own mood on Sundays,” remarked Toni. “ When 
she looks particularly shrewish and Steve has a 
whipped-dog expression, Mandy always wears that 
black hat trimmed with little plumes, which looks 
like a small hearse. I know then that the weather 


302 


RAINBOW GOLD 


is stormy. When she wears the yellow straw 
trimmed with crimson poppies and lilacs, a combi- 
nation most devoutly to be loathed, the barometer 
says ‘ bright and clear,’ and Steve looks happy.” 

“Oh! I see Tom Potts has painted his house! ” 
cried Lex, as they passed the blacksmith’s home. 

“ Yes,” replied Jim. “ The house has been bap- 
tized with paint, and they’ve given it a name. 
‘ The Oaks,’ they call it ; but since there isn’t an oak 
in sight of the place, I call it, ‘ The Hoax.’ There’s 
a lot of rank and tone about a place when it has a 
name ; so the other day I told Ma I thought I’d call 
our house ‘ The Cedars,’ because there’s a plum- 
tree near the back door. I tell you, Alexander, 
Peacedale folks are getting to be real nifty since 
you went away. The Pottses have painted their 
house and got an ice-cream freezer; Obe Brimson’s 
wife bought a set of curtain-stretchers the other 
day ; and Mrs. Burtis has been singing in the choir 
since she got a gold tooth put in.” 

They all laughed, and Lex inquired: “ What are 
you and Ma doing to keep in the social swim? ” 

“ Well, except for having a phonograph, we 
haven’t done anything so far; though I kind of sug- 
gested to Ma this morning that we’d have to get 
busy and keep up with the rest of the folks. So I’m 
going to order a fireless cooker for Ma; and I’m 


THE FIRE OF DRIFTWOOD 303 


thinking of getting a safety razor for myself. That 
ought to help some.” 

After supper they all went down to the beach, 
where they were joined by Kathryn, Florence, 
Teddy, and Bobby. When it grew dark, they built 
a huge bonfire of driftwood, and told stories, sang 
songs, and toasted marshmallows. 

The waves came in with a swish and a splash ; and 
the fire sent out long streamers of light over the 
water. On the dark shadow of the promontory 
burned a small light, the lamp which shone night 
after night from Rachel Lee’s lonely cottage, which 
nestled at the foot of the high stone cliff. Far 
across the dark waste the light of Sheep Island 
lighthouse revolved in the high tower, and flashed 
intermittently, like the winking eye of a Cyclops. 

Bobby, who loved to tease the girls, made up lim- 
ericks at their expense, which brought out bursts of 
laughter from all. Toni was the first victim. 

“There was a young lady named Toni, 

Whose legs were so long and so bony 
That both of her knees 
Beached the Antipodes; 

So she never could ride on a pony.” 

“ My poor legs ! ” groaned Toni in mock despair. 

“ There’s nothing you can say about me ! ” cried 
Kathr 5 m. “ I am just an ordinary person. I 


804 


RAINBOW GOLD 


haven’t long legs, or a hare-lip ; and I haven’t been 
freckled at all this summer. So there’s nothing for 
you to rhyme about ! ” 

Bobby thought for a few seconds. “ Here goes: 

“There was a young lady named Lindsay, 

Who wore a dress made of brown wincey ; 

There was scorn in her eye 
As she sniffed towards the sky, 

Till her neck had developed a quinsy.** 

Kathryn looked about at the others. “ Can’t 
some one retaliate? Lex, come forward and slay 
this creature.” 

“ No,” replied Lex. “ I see the fire of inspira- 
tion gleaming in Bobby’s eye ; and it isn’t the reflec- 
tion of our bonfire, either. His genius would 
sparkle again. Out with it, Bobus I ” 

“There was a young lady named Florence, 

Who looked upon worms with abhorrence. 

At the sight of an eel 

She would give a loud squeal ; 

And her tears would descend in wild torrents.** 

“ I know you can’t possibly make a limerick 
about me ! ” cried Cecily. “ There isn’t anything 
you can think of to rhyme with my name. You’re 
stumped with ‘ Cecily.’ ” 

“ Am I, indeed? ” scoffed Bobby. “ ‘ I was bom 
under a rhyming planet.’ Just listen! ” 


THE FIRE OF DRIFTWOOD 805 


“There was a young lady named Cecily 
Who was born on a mountain in Thessaly. 
Whenever she spoke, 

Her words twisted and broke ; 

So we only could understand — ‘guessily.’ ” 

“ Oh! ” they chorused. 

“ Girls, let’s throw him in the fire or duck him in 
the sea ! ” exclaimed Kathryn. 

“ No, wait a moment! ” said Toni, and she began: 

‘ ‘ There once was a heathen named Bobby, 

And limericks were his mad hobby. 

His conceit and his verse 
Became steadily worse, 

But he thought all his rhymes were quite nobby.” 

“ Hurray ! ” cried the girls. 

The tide had gone out and left a wide stretch of 
hard, level sand. 

“ Let us have a dance,” suggested Toni ; and they 
joyfully agreed. 

Lex and Teddy ran up to the house for Jim’s 
phonograph and they brought out all his records of 
popular music. Basil, whose infirmity precluded 
him from dancing, kept the music humming as the 
others whirled about in two-steps, waltzes, and 
fancy dances. 

Lex insisted on having Ma as a partner. “ Come 
along, Mai I’ve had dancing-lessons in Boston; so 
I won’t tread on your toes or tear your frills.” He 


306 


RAINBOW GOLD 


made a most elaborate bow, with all the pomposity 
of a Turveydrop. 

There was something eerie about the scene, as the 
moving figures danced in and out of the fire-light. 
The moon distorted their shadows, and sometimes 
the lanky, grotesque forms seemed to touch the sky. 

“ This beats the witches in ‘ Macbeth,’ ” said Jim, 
as he threw another log on the fire, and the sparks 
scattered like golden dust. 

The next day was Saturday, and Mr. Hastings 
had given his consent for a tea-party to be held in 
Lex’s honor. Only Kathryn, Florence, Teddy, 
and Bobby had been invited, and they had tea on the 
lawn, under one of the old apple-trees. 

“ Land’s sakes ! ” exclaimed Delia when Toni in- 
vaded her sanctum in the morning and offered to 
help in the preparations. “ It’s the first time there’s 
ever been a sign of a party since I lived in this 
house, and that’s the length of my life! The old 
gentleman’s gettin’ human. When Miss Hastings 
told me the other day that there was goin’ to be a 
party, I felt like the Day o’ Judgment was cornin’. 
I’m real glad that I can show folks what don’t live 
in this house that I’m as good a cook as any in 
Peacedale.” 

“ Don’t you need some help, Delia? ” 

“ No, you leave it all to me, and I’ll show you 


THE FIRE OF DRIFTWOOD 307 


what^s what. It’s not pride and vain-glory that 
speaks when I say that I’m a good cook; it’s the 
truth, and to-day truth will prevail 1 But all the 
same, I just can’t understand folks eatin’ out of 
doors when the Lord has given them a roof to cover 
their heads. There’ll be bugs in the butter, and 
worms in the whipped cream, and mosquitoes 
a-whizzin’ and dippin’ into everything, like the 
plagues of Egypt. And I do think it’s a tempta- 
tion for the Devil to get to work when folks eat ice- 
cream, freezin’ their vittles and their vitals and 
turnin’ themselves into refrigerators.” 

On Sunday evening Lex and Toni strolled 
through the woods to watch the sunset. The prom- 
ontory reached out and formed a large bay, which 
gave Peacedale its irregular crescent shape; and 
from the furthermost point was a westward view 
towards the mainland, lying like a strip of shadow 
between the sky and the sea. 

They saw Rachel Lee sitting on the shore, still 
waiting and watching after all the weary years. 

“ We’ll stay up here where we won’t disturb her,” 
said Toni; and they sat at the foot of a hoary pine. 
“ How gray she looks, and she is so still that she 
might be a figure carved from the rocks.” 

“ Yes, she reminds me of that wonderful work 
of St. Gaudens, — ‘ Grief,’ ” answered Lex. “ I 


308 


RAINBOW GOLD 


wonder if she realizes the hopelessness of it all as 
she sits there; or does her poor, crazed mind give 
her a sort of childish expectation that her husband 
and the boys are coming back? ” 

“ Ma says that occasionally she has paroxj^sms 
of anxious dread, and wonders if anything has hap- 
pened to them; though she doesn’t realize the time 
that has elapsed since they went away. Usually 
she is in a state of dull apathy, her senses numbed 
and frozen. She waits night after night; and when 
the morning comes, she turns out the light and 
says, ‘ They will come to-day when the sun goes 
down.’ So every evening she sets the table for 
four, and then goes out to watch for them. Oh! 
it is terribly sad. Poor, lonely old woman! ” 

Lex spoke of Dr. Drummond’s goodness to him, 
and of the plans for his education. “ It’s strange 
how things work out for good, Toni. Last winter 
my illness, coming when it did, seemed the most 
terrible calamity that could have befallen me. It 
destroyed my last chance, I thought; but see what 
has come of it! Your grandfather’s generosity 
brought Dr. Drummond here, and my life has been 
completely changed. I feel like some prince in a 
fairy-tale, who had lived for years under a spell of 
awful enchantment, and then had been suddenly 
freed from the hateful bondage. Now I am free 


THE FIRE OF DRIFTWOOD 809 


to do the work I love; and if I succeed, I am going 
to help other boys who are struggling for an educa- 
tion. That is my dream.” 

As they talked, day expired in the west, like an 
ancient warrior of the North sailing to Valhalla in 
a ship of fire. A cool wind shuddered among the 
pines. The dusk of twilight crept over the mother- 
of-pearl sky, and the opalescent shimmer of the 
bay was dimmed, as if a breath had dulled its 
mirror-like surface. A coil of smoke rose from 
Jim’s cottage, curling and vanishing into the vast- 
ness of the sky. 

Toni rose with a slight shiver. “ How chilly it 
has grown ! ” 

“ Toni, do you know, Rachel hasn’t shifted her 
position since we came. I’m going down to her. 
You had better stay here.” 

“ No, I’ll go, too.” 

They carefully descended a little twisted path on 
the side of the cliff, and approached the silent figure. 
Rachel sat motionless on a rock, and waves crept 
in unheeded to her feet. She wore a large gray 
shawl draped over her head and hanging in loose 
folds to the sand. 

“ Rachel I ” whispered Toni. 

A wave receded with a soft murmur, as if repeat- 
ing her utterance. 


310 


RAINBOW GOLD 


The woman did not give the quick, startled-bird 
movement which was her habit when accosted by 
others. Lex reached out and gently touched her 
on the shoulder. There was no response. The 
sad, wrinkled face still gazed out to sea, with eyes 
wide-open, despairing, unseeing. 

The boy took off his cap. 

“ Her watching is over,” he said in broken tones. 

A lonely star shone through the darkening sky. 

Toni pointed upward. “ Rachel’s lamp burns 
there now! ” 


CHAPTER XXIV 
EEED-GRASS AND ROSES 

June 23rd. 

Dear, Beloved Daddy: 

This is a perfect day for a birthday, breezy 
and sparkling. The garden is decorated with mil- 
lions of roses in my honor. The sun is smiling in 
the sky and pouring down golden congratulations. 
Of course, a person born on June twenty-third — 
Midsummer Eve — must have all the good fairies 
for god-parents ; for it is the fairy day of the year ! 
And this Toni-person is sixteen years old to-day. 

Your darling letter came yesterday, but I didn’t 
open it until this morning, so my day began with 
a joy. 

Grandfather gave me a wonderful little escritoire, 
which Antoinette the First used many years ago. 
It is beautifully inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and 
there is a funny little drawer which can be locked. 
All your letters are there. It is a dream of a box, 
quaint and Japanesy. The inside is of sandal- 
wood. Just sniff this paper! Doesn’t it make you 
think of Persian spices and roses? 

Grandfather must have loved the French An- 
toinette. There was such a sad, hungry expression 
in his eyes when he gave me the escritoire this morn- 
ing. It made me want to cry. 

311 


812 


RAINBOW GOLD 


When I attempted to thank him, he boshed and 
tutted and baked, and told me to clear out. I be- 
lieve he likes me a little, or he wouldn’t have given 
me this treasure. 

The other day Aunt Olivia told Cecily a story 
about Grandfather. Years ago, at college, he had 
a great friend. It was a Damon and Pythias plus 
David and Jonathan affair. At least it was on 
Grandfather’s side. There was some private scan- 
dal about card-playing, and in some way Grand- 
father was involved. By speaking a word this 
friend might have cleared him. He remained 
silent. Of course, the trouble was set right. 
Grandfather was exonerated and the friend was 
proven a cad. The disappointment made Grand- 
father morbid and queer. He lost faith in every 
one. Several years afterwards he married ’Toinette. 
Her leaving him has always been a mystery. Poor, 
lonely old man ! 

This morning I took a holiday, and the type- 
writer was silent. Usually my morning hours are 
noisy with clicks and taps, as if I were conducting a 
symphony orchestra of woodpeckers; but to-day I 
forgot my work. 

For the past week the weather has been peace- 
ful — dull and quiet. The ocean was calm and 
smooth, as if it were a sea of soothing-syrup. Na- 
ture seemed like a lazy housekeeper, and the world 
became hot and dusty. Last night everything was 
washed with rain; and this morning a brisk, salty 
wind dusted the air and made the sea wrinkle with 
waves. 

So the fairy part of me lured me outside and led 


REED-GRASS AND ROSES 313 


me to the woods. It is a wonderful place — a forest 
primeval. The pines form a vast, dim cathedral. 
The green boughs with glimpses of blue sky are 
stained-glass windows, with sunlight drifting 
through with a hazy shimmer. The murmuring 
roar of the ocean is like the muffled din of street- 
noises outside. There are great rocks, tomb- 
shaped, with lichened inscriptions, and the floor is 
paved with a mosaic of brown needles. A de- 
licious piney smell provides the incense, and little 
flowers blossom in the shadows like candles. 

I spent my morning there, and I listened to a 
sermon preached by an ancient pine — “ a Druid of 
eld.” 

I have written the sermon out for you, because 
there is a message in it which I want you to share. 
So it passes through my heart into yours. It is my 
birthday dream-gift to you. 

Toni. 

EEED-GRASS AND ROSES 
A Song of the Wind. 

A wind crept through the gates of dawn and 
drifted over the world. 

0 waning stars in the sky, 

0 wandering wind of the mom I 

Dew hung like kisses on the lips of all the roses. 
Their breath sweetened the air with fragrance. The 
day was gilded with sunlight. 

0 day of raptnre and roses, 

0 honey and wine of the roses ! 


314 


RAINBOW GOLD 


The wind gathered the roses and tossed them in 
the air. They floated down in showers of loosened 
petals, caressing the wind with their sweetness. 

0 blossoming roses of pleasure, 

0 perfume and pride of the roses 1 

The hours drifted by. The fires of the sun died 
in the western sky, and night covered the last glow- 
ing embers with ashy clouds. 

0 hidden thorns of the roses, 

0 dust and the withered roses 1 

The wind moaned and wandered under the 
shadowy trees. A pool of tears lay beneath the 
dusk of entangled boughs. Reed-grasses, slender 
and tall, fringed the edge of the pool. 

No roses and sparkle of sunlight, 

0 gloom and the reedy grasses! 

The heart of the pool stirred faintly. A ripple 
whispered among the reeds. 

“ I have no roses of pleasure, no shimmering 
smiles of sunlight,” murmured the pool. “ Some- 
times I catch the gleam of a star, or a ray from a 
wandering moonbeam, or mirror the blue of the dis- 
tant sky. Soft mists float over in silence and linger 
among the grasses, like wraiths of lost desires and 
dreams of the withered roses. Here you may 
gather reed-grasses.” 

The wind plucked a handful of reeds and sighed. 

0 dead delights of the roses, 

O grasses and reeds of sorrow I 


REED-GRASS AND ROSES 


315 


A strange, sweet music hovered in the air and 
floated into the silent darkness. 

0 music of sorrow and sighing, 

0 hidden music of reed-grass ! 

The wind rejoiced, for he knew he had discovered 
the secret of song. He tied the reeds together and 
went through the world, playing on his magic pipes. 

The world listened and marveled at his music. 

“ He plays upon common reed-grasses, the reeds 
of sorrow, which we throw away ! ” And they won- 
dered still more at the wistful harmonics, the sad, 
sweet music of their forgotten dreams. 

0 music and memory of roses, 

The sweet, faded roses of pleasure I 
0 music of dreams and desires, 

Of grief and unsatisfied longings! 

0 magical mystery of song 
In the reedy grasses of sorrow! 


CHAPTER XXV 

’TOINETTE’S SECRET 

It was a broiling afternoon. The flowers 
drooped under the pitiless glare of the sun, and the 
trees stood with listless branches, their leaves wilted 
and dusty. The sea glittered like molten brass. 
A feeble breeze came through the open windows of 
the study, like a blast of hot air from a furnace. 

It had been a weary day for Toni. All morning 
she had typed for Grandfather. She was proud of 
her work, and brought the manuscript to the study 
after dinner. The fervid heat of August weather 
had given him a severe headache, and shadows of 
pain darkened his eyes. 

The shutters were closed, but shafts of sunlight 
came through the cracks and sprinkled golden 
gleams on the polished floor. A bee flew into the 
room and buzzed about, as if repeating the gossip 
of the flowers. 

Toni read her work aloud, and then her grand- 
father examined the sheets. They were models of 
neatness as regards the typing, but in reading them 
316 


’TOINETTE’S SECRET 


317 


over she had unconsciously smudged many of the 
pages with her hot, perspiring fingers. 

“ Bah ! ” said Grandfather impatiently. “ Must 
be done over again.” 

Toni sighed and began to gather up the spoiled 
pages. 

He pushed back his hair with a weary gesture. 
“ I wonder if you would ask Delia to make some 
tea. Don’t let her bring it in. Come with it your- 
self. Leave the typing until to-morrow.” 

“ But, Grandfather, I thought you wanted to 
send these chapters off to-morrow morning. I — I 
will do them over when I have brought you the tea.” 

“ My dear child! I feel like throwing the work 
and the typewriter into the sea. Bring plenty of 
tea for both, and we’ll forget all about work.” 

She went out to the kitchen, where she found 
Delia, flushed and perspiring, over the ironing- 
table, and singing: 

“Down in a cool and sha-a-a-dy dell, 

A modest violet gr-ew-oo.” 

“ Oh, Delia, how can you iron and sing on such 
a day as this? ” Toni asked, as she filled the kettle 
and placed it on the stove, which was red-hot with a 
steady coal fire. 

“ Well, I’m not going to let the Devil have it all 
his own way with the heat,” replied Delia imper- 


318 


RAINBOW GOLD 


turbably. “ I’ll show him what’s what. So I’m 
baking bread and burning coal, like I was his first 
cousin. ‘ In the sweat of thy face shalt thou bake 
bread,’ says the Lord. So I’m doing it; for He 
maketh the deep to boil like a pot ! But I’m not go- 
ing to quit my work for any weather; nor for the 
pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the 
destruction that wasteth at noonday.” 

Toni arranged a traj’^ and carried the tea into 
the study. She poured it in the thin Japanese cups. 

“ Oh ! the cream has turned sour ! ” she exclaimed 
in regretful tones, as the cream wriggled in the tea 
like a collection of tiny worms. 

She poured out a fresh cup and he took it from 
her with a sigh of relief. 

“ Shall I get some lemon? ” 

“ No.” He closed his eyes and sipped the tea 
slowly. 

“ Grandfather, will you lie down and let me 
stroke your forehead? I used to do it for Dad, and 
he always declared it cured his headaches. Let me 
try!” 

“ Bah! too hot.” 

“ I’ll go and cool my hands with ice from the 
refrigerator, may I? 

He nodded, and a frown of pain cleft his fore- 
head. 


’TOINETTE’S SECRET 


319 


She soon returned, with hands reddened and 
tingling from immersion in icy water. She passed 
her cool, smooth fingers over the throbbing brow 
and through the soft rings of silvery hair. 

Poor old Grandfather! How thin and pale he 
looked! Little beads of perspiration stood on his 
upper lip, and his mouth was contracted with pain. 
Soon his soft, regular breathing informed her that 
he slept; but she sat quietly beside the couch, fear- 
ing to disturb him if she moved. 

The study-door was open, and presently she saw 
Cecily’s face in the shadowy hall. She beckoned to 
Toni, who rose carefully and went into the hall. 

“ Oh, Toni, I don’t know what you will say ! ” 
she began with a tearful whisper. “ Just come up- 
stairs.” 

Cecily wore a blue muslin kimono, and her damp 
hair floated about her shoulders. 

“ What is the matter? ” asked Toni, as they tip- 
toed from the hall. 

“ I had washed my hair, and I wanted to write 
some letters while it was drying. So I dragged the 
table close to the window, and that dear little 

escritoire Grandfather gave you ” 

Oh, Cecily! Don’t say it fell aff the table! ” 
Y-y-yes,” gasped Cecily. “ I’m so sorry! ” 

Toni rushed along the corridor to their room. 


320 


RAINBOW GOLD 


The lovely little desk was on the floor, and chips 
of the beautiful mother-of-pearl lay beside it. 

“ I — I’m awfully sorry ! I didn’t try to pick it 
up. I’m afraid the bottom is broken,” said Cecily 
mournfully. 

“ Oh, my dear little desk! ” groaned Toni, as she 
knelt on the floor. 

Cecily began to weep. “ Oh! I wish you’d lose 
your temper, Toni ! Say something mean. Knock 
my head off, pull my hair or my nose. Don’t be 
such an angel and a saint! Swear, cuss, kick, or 
scream! Do something! ” 

Toni smiled sadly. “ It wouldn’t do any good to 
storm. Besides, I think my old Toni-tempers are 
things of the past.” 

“ I wish you wouldn’t be so sweet about it,” pro- 
tested Cecily. “ Be human! ” 

Toni carefully lifted the escritoire back to the 
table, and Cecily helped to gather up the mother- 
of-pearl chips. 

“All these pieces can be glued on again,” re- 
marked Toni. “ I’ll put them in the drawer, where 
they’ll be safe. And I’m sure Jim can mend the 
bottom. So don’t worry, Cecily.” 

Cecily hugged her. “ I feel like weeping over 
you, as Mrs. Ken wigs did over her children, and 
saying, ‘ You’re too good to live! ’ ” 


’TOINETTE’S SECRET 


321 


Toni laughed and attempted to pull out the 
drawer of the desk. 

“H’m! it’s stuck!” she cried. “Here, Cecily, 
you hold it up carefully at this side, while I try to 
loosen the drawer.” 

Cecily complied, and presently the drawer came 
out half-way and stuck again. 

“ Why ! what’s this? ” exclaimed Toni. “ There’s 
a space under the drawer — a secret compartment! 
I didn’t know about that.” 

She pushed back a sliding piece of wood beneath 
the drawer. 

“ There’s something inside ! ” cried Cecily, peer- 
ing in. 

Toni’s slim fingers pulled out a folded piece of 
yellowed note-paper. It was covered with faint, 
delicate handwriting. She glanced at it. “ My 
Dear Husband: ” the writing began. 

She refolded it quickly and looked at Cecily with 
startled eyes. 

“ It’s Oh ! it must be a letter written to 

Grandfather by ’Toinette. It is like a message 
from the dead! I’ll take it down to him. He 
couldn’t have knovm it was there.” 

She left the astonished Cecily and ran down to 
the study. Grandfather had awakened, and the 
shutters were thrown open. A breeze fiuttered the 


322 


RAINBOW GOLD 


curtains and brought in a soft, cool scent of coming 
rain. He sat by one of the windows, and turned to 
her with a tender smile as she entered. 

“ Your healing touch has worked a miracle, Toni I 
My headache has disappeared. Why, my child, 
what is the matter? ” 

She stood before him with quivering lips and 
quick, panting breaths. Her cheeks were pale, and 
misty tears filled her eyes. 

“ Grandfather, I ” She knelt beside his 

chair. “ There is a secret compartment in the 
escritoire you gave me on my birthday, and I have 
just discovered it. There — was — something inside 
for — you.” 

She placed the letter in his hand and was about 
to rise, but he restrained her with an impatient 
gesture. 

“ Stay! You say you found this in — ’Toinette’s 
desk? ” 

“ Yes, Grandfather.” She hid her face on his 
knee. 

He read the letter over slowly. She could hear 
the faint rustling of the crisp paper, as if it were 
the whispering voice of the dead ’Toinette coming 
from the past, through tHe long distance of inter- 
vening years. Presently his hand sank on her 
shoulder. 


’TOINETTE’S SECRET 


323 


“ Poor little 'Toinette I ” he murmured. “ Poor 
little girl! ” 

He gently raised Toni’s face between his hands 
and looked down into her eyes. 

“ Toni, you have taken a lifelong sorrow from my 
aching old heart. You have opened the windows of 
my darkened life and let in the air and sunlight. 
Oh, little girl, you can never realize what this letter 
means to me! ” 

She crept up to the arm of his chair and sat with 
her face pressed closely to his. 

“ Read the letter, dear. I want you to under- 
stand. We will read it together.” 

My dear Husband: 

It is that I must go away, and you must not 
know why until I am gone. You will forgive me 
then. I am writing this with tears, because I love 
you. 

Don’t be too sorry about me. You will have our 
little Annette. I am not wise enough to be her 
mother or to be your wife. You are very wonder- 
ful and wise; and I am just a stupid little person 
who cannot even pretend to be clever. 

You see, I always thought that it was enough in 
life just to be happy. Now I know that one ought 
to be wise, and not care so much about being happy. 

Do you remember the little canary that used to 
sing so much and annoy you? Its cage was cov- 
ered, so that the noise should not be so disturbing. 
It sang no more ; and soon, very soon, it died. 


324 


RAINBOW GOLD 


' I was a human canary, I think. My singing, my 
childish ways, and chatter were tiresome to you. I 
felt you did not api^rove of me, though you were 
always very kind. But it was a sad kindness; and 
presently I grew silent — like the poor little bird. 

And now I know I am going to die very soon. 
I want to fly back to my old home. Here it is so 
gray, so sad! I could not bear to die here; and I 
do not wish you to see me suffer, as I know I must. 
Sometimes the pain is hard to bear now, and often 
I keep away from you, so that you may not under- 
stand and be sorry for me. Perhaps I am unwise, 
but you will forgive me, will you not? Just be- 
cause I am only silly little ’Toinette. 

When you come back from New York, you will 
not find me here. At first I fear you will be very 
angry. Please don’t be angry very long! 

Soon I shall be sleeping under the flowers of 
France, with the sunny blue skies far above. Let 
your thoughts of me be very gentle, as if they were 
little blossoms you would place on my grave. 

Always, always remember that the stupid little 
’Toinette loved you, though she was afraid to show 
it in her own foolish way. Some day we shall both 
understand. 

Please open your heart as you read this, and let 
a little memory of me creep inside and keep it kind. 

Ma ckandelle est morte, 

Je n’ai plus de feu : 

Ouvrez-moi ta porte 
Pour I’amour de Dieu ! 

’Toinette. 

“Oh, Grandfather! how wonderful, how for- 


’TOINETTE’S SECRET 


325 


tunate, that this letter has reached you at last ! If 
Cecily hadn’t accidentally knocked the escritoire off 
the table, and loosened the bottom, this letter might 
never have been discovered. So you really owe it 
to Cecily! ” 

He pressed her hand. “ No, I owe it to Toni; 
for if I hadn’t learned to care for you, I shouldn’t 
have given you the escritoire, and it would still be 
in the darkened room up-stairs. This has come, not 
through accident, but through the wonderful work- 
ing-out of love. My child, I see, I understand at 
last. ‘Toinette loved me after all 1 ” 

She gave a soft little laugh, half -merry, half- 
tearful. “ And all these tangled years have been 
changed into a rainbow.” 

The rain began to pelt on the parched grass out- 
side, reviving the drooping flowers and crisping 
the flaccid leaves on the trees. There was a sweet 
smell of moist earth and grass, and all the flowers 
poured out their fragrance as a thank-offering for 
the blessing of the rain. Raindrops pattered on 
the sills and sent spitting showers into the room. 
Toni hurriedly closed the windows. 

Grandfather stood beside her and took her hands 
in his. “ Toni, there is wonderful news for you. 
Just before you came down with the letter, I had 
been wakened by Delia, who brought me a telegram 


326 


RAINBOW GOLD 


from a lawyer-friend of mine. He has been work- 
ing for your father, and has succeeded in his appeal 
for a new trial in the fall. But the telegram tells 
me the trial will not be necessary. Kershaw has 
confessed and has been arrested. Your father is 
innocent.” 

“Dad! Oh, Grandfather!” she said, as she 
clung to him. 

“ Yes, dear. There are a few technical details 
to be attended to. A certain amount of red-tape 
must be unwound; and then your father will be 
free, and the world will know of his innocence. I 
am leaving for the South to-morrow. You have 
given me back ’Toinette, and I shall bring your 
father back to you.” 

“ Oh! Oh! ” She could feel her knees shaking. 
The walls, ceiling, and floor seemed to come to- 
gether like a collapsible box; and everything grew 
dark. Toni fainted. 

In a few moments she opened her eyes. Grand- 
father had opened the windows and the rain 
streamed into the room. She gasped with a chok- 
ing laugh when she realized that the frightened old 
man was pouring a shower of cold tea over her face. 

She sat up. “ Oh, Grandfather! tea! ” 

“ There was no water, so I seized the teapot,” he 
laughed. 


’TOINETTE’S SECRET 


327 


Outside the sun tore the clouds apart and shone 
forth, making the descending rain-drops like strings 
of prismatic beads. 

“ The storm is over! ” cried Toni, inhaling a deep 
draught of the cool, wet air. “ There will be a 
rainbow and a wonderful sunset. Oh I I’m so 
happy! My heart is like a nest of singing-birds 
caroling, ‘ Dad is free ! Dad is free I ’ ” 

She threw her arms about her grandfather and 
gave him a vehement hug. “ I love you. Grand- 
father! Your Toni loves you!” 

He led her to the fireplace with the hidden picture 
above it. 

“After many years love has come to me,” he said 
softly; and he drew the dark green curtains aside. 

Toni saw her grandmother’s portrait for the first 
time. The French ’Toinette sat in a simple gown, 
twining a wreath of pink roses about her straw hat. 
Her black hair was piled loosely on top of her head, 
but two soft curls rested upon her right shoulder. 
The background was a misty bit of woodland, vague 
and shadowy. 

“ How lovely she was ! ” murmured Toni. “ She 
looks as if she understood ! ” 

“ Yes, I think she understands,” added Grand- 
father. “ She knows that I have foimd Rainbow 
Gold at last ! ” 


CHAPTER XXVI 
PEBBLES, PEAELS, AND PUDDLES 

Jim Trefethen's usually equable temper was 
ruffled. He stood gazing at his boat-house in sur- 
prised silence, and presently gave vent to his 
favorite exclamation. 

“ Well, I’m jiggered I ” 

On one side of the boat-house were crudely 
painted words, done in paint which was still wet. 

The Wages of Sin is Death! 

Pray and he Saved! 

Believe or he Damned! 

“ I suppose the man who did that thinks he’s 
helping the Lord; but he might’ve asked leave to 
use my shed.” 

He called to Ma, who was working in the garden. 
“ Just come here, Ma. Now, look at that! ” 

“ It’s very badly done,” observed Ma. “ But I 
suppose the man meant well.” 

“ Yes, he’s probably another of the happy band 
of well-meaners who are so often ill-doers. To my 

mind it’s a poor way of advertising salvation. It 
328 


PEBBLES, PEARLS, AND PUDDLES 329 


makes religion look like a danger-signal. I’m go- 
ing to paint it out. I have half a can of paint left 
inside, and I’ll do it now.” 

“ Well, the boat-house needed a fresh coat of 
paint badly,” remarked Ma in soothing tones. 

“ Do you remember a few years ago,” said Jim, 
as he began to obliterate the threatening words, 
“ the man who climbed down the Great Lion rock 
and painted the word ‘ Hell ’ all over it? He was 
another of those well-meaners. When he had used 
up all his paint he found that he couldn’t climb up 
again. So Tom Potts and I had to risk our lives 
and go down to save him. I told him afterwards 
that when the Lord made that rock He didn’t intend 
that the devil should use it for advertising his busi- 
ness. But he said he did it to warn the fishermen 
and sailors going out to sea how near hell they were; 
which is one way of looking at it. My idea is that 
it’s a heap better to feel how near you are to heaven, 
and forget all about the other place.” 

Ma went back to the garden. She sat with her 
sewing on a shady seat under a cherry-tree, which 
was rubied over with ripening fruit. 

Toni had gone to the station to see her grand- 
father leave for the South. On her way home she 
tripped down the lane to see Ma and Jim, to tell 
them the joyful news. A rasping squeal of the 


330 


RAINBOW GOLD 


weighted gate-chain informed Ma that some one 
was entering the garden; and she turned to see the 
merry-faced girl coming through the leafy aisle of 
lilacs. 

“Why, Toni!” she exclaimed. “How happy 
you look! ” 

“ I have good reason to be happy, Ma! ” replied 
Toni, giving her a kiss. “ Oh, Ma, be happy with 
me! My father will soon be free. Grandfather 
has had one of the biggest criminal lawyers in the 
country working on the case, and everything will 
soon be straightened out. He left by the three- 
eighteen train for New York; and then he is going 
down South to bring Daddy home to me. Oh ! isn’t 
it wonderful ! ” 

Ma’s eyes shone with love and tender sympathy. 
“ My dear, you deserve this ! Oh, we must tell Jim 
at once! Jim! ” she called, “ come up here a mo- 
ment ! ” 

Jim wiped out the final word of the exhortations 
with a wide sweep of the brush. “ Coming, Ma.” 

“Well, I say!” he exclaimed. “ What’ve you 
two been doing to yourselves? Why, you look as 
if you had both been polished up with joy; you’re 
so sparkling and happy.” 

“The whole world has been polished for me!” 
replied Toni ; and she related the glad tidings. 


PEBBLES, PEARLS, AND PUDDLES 331 


“Well, I’m jiggered! Toni, you’ve got your 
reward at last ; and you’ve earned it, my girl ! ” 
He patted her hand gently. 

She looked up with a grateful smile, and then 
she turned to Ma. 

“ Ma, we really owe our happiness to you ; for 
Grandfather told me last night that it was you who 
persuaded him to have Daddy’s affairs investi- 
gated.” 

“ I just suggested it to him,” said Ma diffi- 
dently. 

“Ah! but if you hadn’t done that. Daddy might 
still be considered guilty, might still be in prison. 
So you have brought this wonderful happiness into 
our lives. For Grandfather wouldn’t have had 
that great lawyer and detective clear everything up, 
if you hadn’t spoken to him about it. It’s some- 
thing I can never repay, but it has made me love 
you more and more ! ” 

“ Ma’s repaid ! ” cried Jim, with tears shining in 
his kind, honest eyes. “ Love clears all debts. 
Toni, I guess you understand, without my telling 
you, that Ma and I are rejoicing with you over 
this.” 

“ Indeed we are,” added Ma. 

“And it’s great to see you look happy. That 
little hurt look has gone from your eyes. Ala and 


332 


RAINBOW GOLD 


I often spoke of it. It was there even when you 
laughed. And in all your trouble you’ve been 
brave and cheerful. You didn’t break down often. 
You and Alexander have been a fine pair.” 

“ I sent a letter to Lex this afternoon, for I 
wanted him to know of my happiness at once.” 

“ Yes,” remarked Ma. “ You and Alexander’ve 
had a great struggle, like seeds striving to push 
their way up through the clay. But you’ve both 
reached the air and sunshine, and your troubles 
are over.” 

“Yes, our real big troubles are over,” sighed 
Toni happily. “ There may be storms, with mists 
and rain, but we can always hang a rainbow on 
every cloud.” 

“ I calculate life will be fairly easy for you now,” 
went on Jim. “ For you’ve learned the lessons 
sorrow had to teach you — patience, and courage, 
and cheer. We all have to learn those lessons.” 

Ma took Jim’s hand in hers. “ Toni, I almost 
envy your father his joy when he sees you. I think 
he’ll feel as Jim and I will some day, when we see 
our little children again. Your father will see 
heaven in your face.” 

“And I shall see heaven in his,” finished Toni. 

The whirligig of time moved slowly during the 
days following Grandfather’s departure; and the 


PEBBLES, PEARLS, AND PUDDLES 333 


hours seemed, to Toni, to crawl with the pace of 
snails. With impatient eagerness she longed for 
the day of her father’s coming. She couldn’t read, 
she couldn’t work, for she was all a-tingle with ex- 
citement and joy. Even the placid Cecily became 
excited, and Basil mooned and dreamed at the 
piano, forgetting to come to his meals and working 
himself into a state of nervous exhaustion. 

At last the day arrived! Toni wakened early 
and ran across to the open window. A cool morn- 
ing breeze blew over her night-gowned form and 
tossed the curls from her forehead. There was a 
sparkle over the sky, the sea, and the garden, — the 
freshness and purity of a new-born day. 

“ Oh ! what a glorious world to be glad in 1 I 
can hear the morning-stars singing!” she cried. 
“Wake up, Cecily! To-day is here. Oh, don’t 
miss a moment of it ! The morning has kissed the 
sea and made it blush with joy.” 

Cecily opened her eyes and yawned. “ Ow-ow- 
ow ! I think I’ll go — ow-ow-ow ! ” She snuggled 
sleepily under the downy comforter, which was 
sprinkled with blue poppies. 

“ Oh, come on ! Don’t be lazy. Get your bath- 
ing-suit on and join me in a swim.” Toni threw a 
bath-towel at her. A bathing-suit, stockings, and 
canvas shoes quickly followed; and Cecily, with a 


334 


RAINBOW GOLD 


final yawn and stretch of the arms, sat up just 
in time to be slapped in the face with a rubber 
cap. 

“ The tide’s in, and every wave is wooing us. 
Come on, Miss Sleepiness ; a swim will polish your 
wits. There ! I’ve rolled up your clothes, and we 
will dress in the boat-house.” 

The girls, clad in their bathing-suits, were soon 
skipping through the garden. Dewy cobwebs 
glistened everywhere, like silver filagree, and 
flowers smiled through their morning tears. 

Toni stooped and kissed the dew from an open- 
ing lily. “ See! she has been weeping all night for 
the sun. You beautiful, white princess! Wake 
up, the sun has come to kiss you.” 

“ Oooh ! it’s too chilly to be poetical,” complained 
Cecily with a shiver, and wrapping her bath-towel 
about her shoulders. 

They tripped down the rough steps leading to the 
beach. Toni sang as they ran along to the boat- 
house, where they left their clothes and towels. 

“Come unto these yellow sands 
And then take hands ; 

Curtsied when you have and kissed 
The wild waves whist.” 

They joined hands and danced into the waves 
with a splash and shrill cries of delight. 


PEBBLES, PEARLS, AND PUDDLES 335 


“Boo-oo-ooo! it’s c-c-c-co-co-cold-ld-ld ! ” cried 
Cecily, and her teeth clicked like castanets. “ I 
w-w-w-wish I’d st-st-stayed in b-b-b-bed.” 

“ It’s gl-gl-glorious-st-st-sssst ! ” replied Toni, 
spitting out a mouthful of salty water, as an un- 
expected wave dashed into her face. 

After a brief swim they raced along the beach 
and then sat in the sand, which was already slightly 
warmed by the sun. 

“ It’s going to be hot to-day,” said Cecily, as she 
covered her legs with sand. “ Oh, look at this 
wonderful, satiny piece of seaweed! It looks like 
the frill of a sea-nymph’s dress.” 

Toni took the weed in her hands. “ How pretty 
it is! Poor little exile from the sea, torn from its 
home of coral and pearly shells and thrown on the 
bare sands of a strange world ! I’m going to throw 
it back.” 

“ It will only be washed up again,” remarked 
Cecily. 

“ Perhaps so ; but I’m so happy myself that I 
want to help everything else to be happy, even a 
torn piece of seaweed. Good-by, little leaf of the 
sea ! ” She tossed it, with a boyish swing of her 
arm, into the water. 

“ Oh, Toni, you are queer! That weed isn’t 
capable of any sensation. It just grows and dies 


836 RAINBOW GOLD 

and there’s the end of it,” the practical Cecily ob- 
served. 

“ Now, how do you know that? ” demanded Toni. 
“Perhaps you are right; but I like to think that 
everything in nature feels and understands in its 
own way. The flowers give so much joy to us that 
I hate to see a blossom stepped on and bruised ; and 
it’s a tragedy to see flowers that have been plucked 
and then thrown carelessly away on the dusty road- 
side.” 

Cecily laughed. “How inconsistent you are! 
You are always gathering flowers and leaves and 
bringing them into the house.” 

“ Of course! I bring them in and care for them 
until they die. Even then I never throw them 
away. I always take the withered flowers back to 
the garden and lay them on the ground under the 
shrubbery. The flowers don’t mind being gathered 
for the joy and pleasure they give, but it must hurt 
them terribly to be thrown away. I like to believe 
that there is a personality in everjflhing. The 
pines seem so wise and wonderful, and I wish I 
could understand their runes. They are like old 
bards of the forest, chanting the forgotten language 
of the trees. And the flowers are fairies who might 
have left the world ages ago, but they chose to stay 
in order to give joy to mortals.” 


PEBBLES, PEARLS, AND PUDDLES 337 

“ H’m! ” Cecily looked doubtful. 

“ Look at this little pebble ! Where did it come 
from, I wonder! Perhaps from the shore of the 
submerged Atlantis. Is it satisfied with being a 
pebble? Perhaps it longs to be a pearl! ” 

“ Oh, Toni, you put fairy-tales into everything! ” 
cried Cecily, leaping out of her tomb of sand. “ I 
believe you could see a poem in a mud-puddle.” 

“ I could see a bit of blue cloud refiected in it, 
for even a puddle can dream of the sky,” answered 
Toni with a laugh. 

“ You are so intense,” went on Cecily, as they 
dressed. “You are like the ocean, all sparkle and 
dancing waves of delight, or else deep, gray gloom 
of despair.” 

“And often tempestuous,” interrupted Toni. 
“ You, my dear Cecily, are like a little brook, flecked 
with sunlight, chattering and rippling over mossy 
stones, with violets and ferns and dainty forget-me- 
nots. Everything about you is sweet, fresh, and 
cheerful.” 

“ If you were unkindly truthful, you’d add, — 
‘ shallow,’ ” said Cecily with a hug. “ But I’d 
rather be a merry brook than a great old ocean, 
even if it has pearls of wisdom hidden in its heart. 
What is Basil like? ” 

“ Basil is a pool, dreamy and still, but watered 


338 


RAINBOW GOLD 


by fresh springs of fancy and ideals. So he isn’t 
a stagnant pool. There is no slime of sentimentalit}^ 
about him. He doesn’t produce rank weeds, but 
lilies of romance. Which reminds me: we are go- 
ing to Chandler’s Pond this morning to gather 
water-lilies for that flat green bowl in the room Dad 
is to have. Do you remember, when he and Mother 
went boating together, they always brought back 
water-lilies? So I want some of them to welcome 
him when he comes. And that wonderful jade 
bowl was made for lilies. Whoop! there’s Delia’s 
breakfast-bell ! I’ll race you to the house ! ” 


CHAPTER XXVII 
TREED BY TAURUS 

After breakfast they left the house and met 
Kathryn, with Teddy and Bobby, at the beginning 
of Willow Lane, which dipped through clover- 
fields and meadows to Chandler’s Pond. 

Except for two bare ruts carved by wheel-tracks, 
the lane was carpeted with moss and grass. On 
either side the banks sloped upward, and a rail- 
fence twined with poison ivy zigzagged along the 
top. The willows spread their great branches from 
side to side. They kept the lane cool and shady in 
summer, and in winter their yellow twigs gleamed 
against the gray and white of cloud and snow, like 
a memory of summer’s lost sunshine. 

At the end of Sawyer’s pasture the lane turned 
and became a thread-like path. It followed the 
errant windings of a brook whose crystalline clear- 
ness had earned it the soubriquet. Silver Brook. It 
was a little baby-stream, flowing between borders 
of violet-studded moss; sometimes combing and 
smoothing the long water-grasses and then budding 

into foam as it rippled over the stones. 

339 


340 


RAINBOW GOLD 


“ Look at Sawyer’s cows ! ” cried Cecily, as they 
turned into the path. “ Standing in that long grass 
they look as if they had no legs. I love to see cows 

in a meadow ; it’s so peaceful, so — so What’s 

the word the poets use? ” 

“ Bucolic? ” suggested Teddy. 

“Yes, that’s it! It’s so boculic — ^no, I mean 
cubolic — er — bucolic.” 

They all laughed at Cecily’s struggle with her 
consonants. 

“ Some day, Cecily, you’ll get lockjaw with your 
mutilated talk,” said Bobby. I 

Cecily smiled blissfully. “ Now, a cow isn’t 
really poetic, is it? But a poet writes of pastoral 
peace, the mild-eyed cows standing in the slush 
grass ” 

Slush grass!” There was a peal of laughter 
from Teddy. 

“ You mean lush grass, Cecily,” corrected 
Toni. 

“ Oh, yes ! But ‘ lush ’ sounds so unfinished, 
though I suppose it is more poetic than ‘ slush.’ 
There’s ‘ splash,’ too. In a poem it is always 
‘ plash.’ ” 

When they reached the pond they found the punt 
moored to one of the willows. They pushed out 
through the purple flags and bulrushes, and soon 


TREED BY TAURUS 341 

were drifting among the round, flat leaves and waxy 
lilies. 

“ They look like swan-boats for fairy Lohen- 
grins,” said Toni, as she pulled up a flower with 
half-open petals. 

“ Or chalices, with golden wine,” added Bobby. 

He held up a hard green bud. “ One would 
never dream that this little knob held so much 
beauty with a heart of gold.” 

“ No, Bobus I ” rejoined Teddy. “ It’s just like 
your head — hard and green.” 

With a well-aimed throw, Bobby hit Teddy on 
the nose with the lily-bud. 

“O dear! how the summer is going!” cried 
Kathryn. “ In a few more weeks the holidays will 
be over, and we shall be separated.” 

“ Yep ! ” said Teddy. “ Here we are, happy and 
gay, care-free and all the rest of it. Let’s dip into 
the future, and pull up the unopened buds of time. 
I shall be the seer; and I’ll begin with old Bobus. 
This fall he goes to Bowdoin. Ten years hence 
he’ll be a professor and look like a dried lima bean, 
‘ with spectacles on nose,’ spouting poetry and writ- 
ing books which all who run may read, and all who 
read will run — away ! ” 

“ What about me? ” asked Cecily. 

“ You will marry a wealthy man, and spend your 


342 


RAINBOW GOLD 


life on a cushion, sewing fine seams and eating up 
bushels of chocolate creams. You will always be 
very pretty, and will end up by becoming tremen- 
dously fat.” There was a general laugh at this 
prophecy. 

“ Kathryn will be an ardent suffragette,” went 
on Teddy. “ She’ll parade and speechify on empty 
soap-boxes at street-corners ; she’ll smash mirrors in 
beauty-parlors, wear no corsets, and crush man, 
vile creature, under her flat-heeled number nine 
shoe. In spite of all this, she’ll end in meekly 
adoring and marrying me! ” 

“ I will not! ” declared Kathryn in emphatic 
denial. 

“ Take me next,” laughed Toni. 

“ Toni, you’ll do something to make the world 
hum. You’ll write a book, or invent a studless 
shirt, or become the high-priestess of some new, 
weird religion. You’ll fall violently in love and 
break your heart several times before you settle 
down as sock-darner-in-chief for some man who will 
be either a poet or a pork-butcher.” 

“ What about yourself. Master Theodore? ” in- 
quired Bobby. 

Teddy inflated his chest. “Ah! myself! I’m 
going to business college this fall, and next spring 
my uncle in Boston takes me into his office — to dust 


TREED BY TAURUS 


343 


the stools and wipe the pens, I think. From being 
a mere offiee-worm, I shall rise to a lofty eminence 
of prosperity — quite overtopping our friends Car- 
negie, Rockefeller, and Vanderbilt. I shall give 
all my investments a Midas touch. I shall be a 
modern Croesus ! ” 

“ Oh, listen to him ! ” cried Toni derisively. 

“ It does seem queer to think of growing up. 
This year will make a great, difference to us all,” 
remarked Cecily. 

“ Yes,” added Toni. “ This particular year 
marks a turning of the road for each of us. To 
begin with, we are all leaving the Academy. 
There’s Wellesley for you, Kathryn; and Bowdoin 
for Bobus ; and Teddy starts out on his way to pros- 
perity; and Cecily and I are going with our people 
to India and Japan. When this year is over, how 
different life will seem to us all! ” 

After tying the punt to the willow, they scorned 
the path, and, with their hands filled with lilies, took 
a short cut through the meadows. 

“ I don’t want to go near those cows. I’m a 
dreadful coward where cows are concerned,” said 
Cecily anxiously, as they crawled under the fence. 

“ The cows are peaceful, harmless creatures,” 
said Teddy; “ and Sawyer’s bull is safe in the field 
over there, so there is nothing to be afraid of. 


344 


RAINBOW GOLD 


When Ben Sawyer bought the bull last year, I 
stood sponsor for it and named it Claude Melnotte. 
He’s a vicious person, so we’ll avoid his pasture.” 

When they were half-way across the large 
meadow, a low exclamation from Teddy made them 
start. 

“ Run like blazes, girls! The bull is loose! ” 

They heard a menacing roar, and saw a bulky, 
red form careering toward them. 

“That tree is our only hope!” panted Bobby. 
“ Climb for your lives ! ” 

Cecily was paralyzed with fright. She stumbled 
and fell as Toni seized her hand. Bobby grasped 
her other hand — and again she fell. They could 
hear the dull, heavy thuds of the wild creature’s 
hoofs coming nearer behind them. Teddy and 
Kathryn reached the tree first, and he assisted her 
into the lower branches. 

“ Leave me ! ” gasped Cecily. “ Save your- 
selves — I can’t run ! ” 

“ You must run — you must! ” cried Toni frantic- 
ally. 

“ Go on, girls,” urged Bobby. “ I’ll stop him 
for a moment. Drag her along, Toni. It’s the 
only chance.” 

He dropped Cecily’s hand and tore off his Nor- 
folk jacket. A shrill scream of terror came from 


TREED BY TAURUS 


345 


Kathryn. Toni jerked and pulled Cecily, and 
Teddy came forward to assist them. They pushed 
the weak, breathless girl up the tree, aided by Kath- 
ryn, who reached down with helping hands. 

Meantime Bobby stood waiting to receive the 
charge of the infuriated animal. He gave one 
swift glance at the tree, and saw Toni disappear 
into the branches, with a swirl of petticoats and two 
dangling, long legs. 

“Climb up, Ted!” he called, and advanced to 
meet the bull. He could feel the hot breath as he 
stepped lightly on one side and threw his jacket 
over the horns and head of Claude Melnotte. 

Blinded and hampered by the garment from 
which he could not free himself, the bull paused and 
proceeded to tear it to shreds. Bobby rushed to the 
tree. Teddy had propped a stick against the trunk 
and stood at the foot of the tree, waiting to assist 
the brave boy. Toni pulled and Teddy pushed the 
fat Bobby up ; and then Teddy, who was lithe and 
thin, reached safety just in time. 

“You stupid!” growled Bobby. “Why did 
you wait down there until I came? ” 

“ Shut up! The girls were safe, and you are so 
fat you needed a boost,” replied Teddy. 

Claude Melnotte stood beneath the tree, pawing 
the ground and making the dirt fly in all directions. 


346 


RAINBOW GOLD 


“You horrid thing! Go home!” cried Cecily 
with sweet, gentle insistence, when the bull stood 
still and gazed upward. 

Bobby laughed. “ Cecily, you couldn’t frighten 
a flea with those sugary words.” 

The bull glared at them with fiery eyes. 

“ Cruel, cruel Claude! ” said Teddy, in tones of 
exaggerated reproach. 

“You vicious fiend!” added Kathryn, shaking 
her fist. 

“ Oh, Bobby, that was splendid of you!” cried 
Toni. 

“ Rats ! ” ejaculated Bobby. 

“ We’ve lost our lilies,” observed Cecily regret- 
fully. 

“ I have two of mine left, but they are squashed 
to a slimy pulp,” said Toni, and she threw her 
spoiled blossoms aside. 

This roused the bull, and he advanced towards 
the tree with an angry roar. Cecily squealed with 
terror. 

“ I hope we aren’t going to be marooned here all 
day,” remarked Teddy after a pause. 

“ We’ll have to stay here until some one 
comes after that bull, or he moves off to the 
other meadow where he belongs,” said Bobby. 
“ It wouldn’t be safe for any of us to venture from 


TREED BY TAURUS 347 

this tree while His Majesty elects to remain in this 
field.’’ 

“And he seems to be quite satisfied with his sur- 
roundings at present,” groaned Toni. 

“ Where should we have been without this tree 
for a refuge? ” cried Kathryn in agonized tones. 

“ The meadow would have been like a gory battle- 
field strewn with the fragments of Claude’s unfor- 
tunate victims,” replied Teddy. 

Half an hour drifted by with desultory conversa- 
tion. 

“ Oh, my legs ! ” Toni shifted her position. 

“I’m all pins and needles!” exclaimed Cecily, 
squirming. “ I feel like a human pincushion.” 

The bull began to graze peacefully, but at in- 
tervals he would dash towards the tree with loud 
bellowings. 

“ I’m so hungry; it must be dinner-time,” wailed 
Teddy. 

“And I’m nearly dead with thirst,” said Toni. 

“ So am I,” added Bobby; and he sang with dole- 
ful mien: 

‘‘How dry I am 1 How dry I am I 
Nobody knows how dry I am!” 

It was a sultry day, and the sun beat upon the 
tree with August fervor. 


348 


RAINBOW GOLD 


“ Cecily, there’s a worm exploring down your 
neck,” announced Bobby after a long silence. 

“ Ow ! Ow ! ” Cecily almost fell out of the 
tree; and Toni calmly picked off the fat, green 
worm and transferred it to Bobby’s sleeve. 

Teddy began to chew a willow twig. “ Say, peo- 
ple, I’m a good rumier. Suppose you get this at- 
tentive person below interested in a conversation on 
Art, or Loving Kindness, or the best method of 
putting up mixed pickles, while I sneak down and 
go for help.” 

“ Can’t be done. The beast would get you sure,” 
declared Bobby. 

As if to prove the boy’s assertion, Claude Mel- 
notte rent the air with infuriated roars. 

“‘Oh, speak again, bright angel!’” quoted 
Teddy in ecstasy. 

“ I shouldn’t mind this at all,” began Toni; “ only 
if we don’t get home by five, we’ll miss Dad’s ar- 
rival.” She sighed pathetically. 

“ I’d rather miss Dad than have him greeted with 
our rangled merains — I mean our mangled re- 
mains,” said Cecily with consoling philosophy. 

“ You’re right, Cecily; but your speech made me 
feel like a meringue.” 

Kathryn yawned. “ Can’t some one do some- 
thing to wile away these tedious hours? ” 


TREED BY TAURUS 


349 


“ Somebody sing a hymn,” suggested Teddy. 
“Anything to be gay.” 

“ I suppose we might say that we’re having a 
bully time! ” said Toni. “ Now, everybody, laugh, 
please ! ” 

Teddy began to sing in a drawling voice, and the 
others chimed in to the tune of “ Auld Lang Syne.” 

“We’re here because we’re here; we’re here 
Because we’re here, we’re here: 

We’re here because we’re here, we’re here 
Because we’re here, we’re here!” 

They sang the senseless ditty over and over; and 
one by one they dropped out until Teddy wailed the 
last line by himself. There was a long silence, oc- 
casionally punctuated with sighs and gi’oans. 

“ I feel like an ancient Christian martyr about 
to be given to a wild bull in the arena,” observed 
Cecily. 

“ I’m an Andromeda, not chained to a rock, but 
treed! Oh, for a Perseus to come to my aid ! ” 
Toni declaimed to the brazen sky. 

“ Say I I have an idea ! ” said Bobby. 

“ A what? ” they chorused in scorn, which implied 
doubt of his assertion. 

“An idea!” he smiled patronizingly. “Listen! 
I’ve thought out a poem ! Ahem ! ” 


350 


RAINBOW GOLD 


“ O day of woe ! ” Teddy imploringly clasped his 
hands. He closed his eyes and sat with a resigned 
expression, as if prepared for the worst. 

“ Let’s hear it, Bobs,” chuckled Toni. 

Teddy groaned. 

“ What is it about? ” inquired Kathryn. 

Bobby expanded his chest. Us! ” 

“ Us? ” Teddy showed a faint sign of interest. 

Am /in it?” 

“ Listen! ” Bobby began; 

“The hours of morn were flying fast, 

As through a grassy meadow passed 
Two handsome youths and maidens three ; 

A bull sang in an angry key — 

‘Excelsior!’ 

“The bull came dashing o’er the heath, 

He roared and bellowed through his teeth ; 

And like a burst of thunder rung 
The accents of that awful tongue — 

‘Excelsior!’ 

“There, I’m stumped! You go on with it, 
Toni!” 

Toni laughed. “ Oh, er — er 

“They shrieked and dashed across the lea; 

Those girls and boys, how they did flee! 

The bull pursued, his wild eyes shone. 

And from their lips escaped a groan — 
‘Excelsior!’ 


TREED BY TAURUS 


351 


‘Let’s climb the tree!’ brave Teddy said, 

‘Or else we’ll all of us be dead; 

Tossed, gored, and mangled, thrown aside 1’ 

And loud the angry bull replied, 

‘Excelsior!’ ” 

“ I’ll speak now,” broke in Teddy; and he took up 
the parody. 

“ ‘Go on ! ’ a maiden said ; ‘ don ’t wait, 

I know that I shall make you late I ’ 

A tear stood in her bright blue eye. 

The bull still answered with a sigh, 

‘Excelsior!’ 


‘Beware the willow’s withered branch, 

Beware the awful avalanche 
Of Kathryn tumbling from the height!^ 

Quoth Toni, as they climbed in fright. 

Excelsior ! 

Go on, Bobus! I’m graveled for lack of matter,” 
finished Teddy. 

Bobby looked very solemn as he intoned: 

“Their hearts were sad, the hours went slow. 

The angry bull remained below; 

They sang a hymn, they said a prayer; 

The bull roared through the startled air, 
‘Excelsior!’ 

“They felt a gnawing hunger soon. 

For day had passed the hour of noon. 

They yearned for home and wondered why 
They must stay here to starve and die ! 

Excelsior ! 


Go ahead, somebody I ” 


852 


RAINBOW GOLD 


“ I have it! ” Toni said eagerly. 

“There in the ages yet unsung, 

Five bony skeletons they hung; 

And Taurus shone serene and far — 

A brilliant zodiacal star: 

Excelsior!” 

Another drowsy silence drifted by. 

“A man!*" shrieked Cecily. “A man! I see a 
man ! ” She waved her arms frantically. 

“A man? ” Teddy clung to the tree like a ship- 
wrecked sailor to a mast. “ Oh, where? 

“ There! ” She pointed towards the lane. “ It’s 
a man, a real man! And he’s alive! ” 

“ It’s Mandy Fly’s new summer-boarder,” said 
Bobby. ^^Hi! Hi!” 

They all shouted to attract the man’s attention. 
The bull began to paw the ground. 

“Help! Help!” they called. 

The stranger heard them and began to climb the 
fence. 

“ No, no, no! Go back, go hack! ” they yelled, 
as he walked towards the tree. 

The man was evidently puzzled. “ What the 
dickens do you want? ” 

“Bull! Mad! Go back! Bull!** shouted 
Bobby, with all the force of his lungs, in brief ex- 
planation of their dilemma. The bull added a 


TREED BY TAURUS 


353 


bellow which apprised the man of the situation, and 
he immediately did a lightning disappearing-act 
over the fence. 

“ Cheer up ! ” he called. “ I’ll go for help,” and 
he hurried along the lane. 

The time dragged on. They became hungrier, 
weaker, and hotter. 

“ Oh ! ” moaned Kathryn. “ Who speaks first 
to carry my corpse home? I know I shall expire 
before help comes.” 

“ It must be five, if not after,” said Toni de- 
jectedly. 

At last they saw a procession of men armed with 
ropes and pitchforks coming over the field. 

“ Don’t make any noise,” commanded Bobby, 
repressing Cecily’s attempt to call. “ It will dis- 
turb Claude, and make it harder for them to catch 
him.” 

The bull turned and faced the approaching 
men. 

“ Oh, they will all be tossed and killed before our 
eyes!” cried Cecily, covering her face with her 
hands. 

“ No, they won’t,” said Bobby with reassuring 
confidence. “ They know how to manage the 
brute. Jim Trefethen is a wonder with animals.” 

“ I feel as if we were in Spain, about to see a 


354 RAINBOW GOLD 

bull-fight,” remarked Toni. “ On come the mata- 
dors!” 

Claude began to switch his tail, and a faint, 
threatening roar made the girls tremble. Jim 
Trefethen came on, quietly and slowly, speaking 
in firm, even tones. 

“ Come, old boy! What’s the trouble? Say, I 
can tell you where there’s a fine bran mash waiting 
for you. You just come along with me! ” 

The bull roared. Jim came nearer. 

“Oh, I can’t look!” murmured Kathryn, and 
she hid her face in her arm. 

Toni gazed in fascinated horror. Jim ap- 
proached, his gaze firmly fixed on the excited bull. 
“Will he be impaled on those curved horns, and 
tossed into the air? ” thought Toni. For a brief 
moment she saw nothing but a blurred mass of 
leaves and sky. With a frightened gasp she looked 
dovm and shuddered. 

Jim stood beside Claude, feeding him with an 
apple. 

“ There, there ! ” he said as he patted the animal 
and adroitly fastened a chain in the nose-ring. Two 
of the men came up and led Claude away. 

Jim looked up at the tree and laughed. “ Well, 
I guess you young folks have been treed long 
enough.” 


TREED BY TAURUS 


355 

He helped the girls down; and there were many 
exclamations over their stiff, aching limbs. 

“ Cecily and Toni, your aunts have been worry- 
ing about you. Cassar Silas went over to the pond 
to look for you ; but he calculated that you weren’t 
drowned, as he found the punt moored safely to the 
willow, and he didn’t suppose you’d gone in swim- 
ming among the rushes. He went over the other 
way, so that’s how he missed seeing you in the tree. 
I met him driving to the station for your father and 
grandfather. I advised him not to say anything 
about your absence to them. I was just starting 
out with Polly Feemus to search for you when Ben 
Sawyer asked me to come and hypnotize Claude.” 

“ Oh, do let us hurry, Cecily! ” cried Toni. 

“ I guess you’re both mighty eager to get home,” 
observed Jim. “ So I have Polly Feemus at the 
end of the lane, and I’ll drive you home lickety- 
split. I told Caesar Silas to drive slow; so I guess 
we’ll beat him. Suffering Samson ! you must have 
had a hungry, lively time up that tree! I’ll be 
jiggered! ” 


CHAPTER XXVIII 

‘‘MERRILY, MERRILY, SHALL I LIVE NOW!** 

Jim urged Polly Feemus along at her fastest 
gait, and the horse responded with a lively trot ; yet 
the drive seemed interminable to the eager, im- 
patient girls. 

Cecily’s face was flushed, but her hair was neat 
and her middy was clean. She was one of those 
fortunate persons who always contrive to look well 
under any circumstances. Toni had lost her hair- 
ribbon, and her hair hung in a loose, untidy mass 
about her shoulders. Pieces of willow-bark and 
leaves were tangled in her curls, and her middy was 
slimed over with the crushed lilies. Her face was 
gi’imy, for she had frequently brushed back stray 
curls with her dirty hands. Her knuckles were 
grazed, and a deep scratch on her forehead con- 
tributed to her dilapidated appearance. 

“ Cecily, you are positively aggravating! ” she 
complained. “ You look so fresh and clean. There 
isn’t a hair awry, and your middy is immaculate 
compared to mine. I’d like to slap you.” 

356 


“MERRILY SHALL I LIVE NOW!” 357 


Cecily laughed. “ You do seem to have a knack 
of attracting dirt, Toni.” 

“ I guess I know something else she has the knack 
of attracting,” observed Jim, and he clicked his 
tongue to Polly Feemus. “ She draws hearts to 
her like a magnet, and she holds them fast.” 

“ You’re right, Jim,” agreed Cecily. “ When 
hearts are trumps, Toni always wins.” 

Aunt Olivia, pale and anxious, met them at the 
door. After a hurried explanation they rushed uj)- 
stairs to wash and dress. Cecily was soon ready, 
looking fresh and sweet in her white dimity and 
blue ribbons. Toni’s hair was snarly, buttons 
wouldn’t fit into their button-holes, and all her be- 
longings seemed to be x^laying hide-and-seek, for 
she could find nothing she wanted. Her clean 
stockings were lying loose in her bureau drawer, 
and they wouldn't match. 

“ O dear! with all this hosiery there ought to be 
twin stockings somewhere ! ” 

A shower of stockings was tossed on the 
bed. 

“ Where is my other slipper? ” Two rubbers 
and one tennis-shoe came flying from the cupboard 
to the middle of the floor. 

“ There, you’re ready, Cecily! And here am I 
not half dressed. O dear ! ” She tore at a snarl in 


358 


RAINBOW GOLD 


her hair. “ My fingers are so clumsy. They 
aren’t even thumbs — they’re toes! ’’ 

“ Here are your stockings and slippers ready,” 
said Cecily good-naturedly. “ Let me fasten your 
dress. Why, you have it all wrong! No wonder 
you couldn’t manage it. Keep still, or I can’t do 
it. You’re wriggling like an eel.” 

“ Oh ! there’s the carriage 1 ” wailed Toni. 
“ Don’t wait for me, Cecily. Go down! ” 

“Well, if you don’t mind ” Cecily dis- 

appeared. 

Cecily reached the front door just as the carriage 
drew up before the steps. With a cry of joy she 
threw herself into her father’s arms. He was a 
tall, dark man, with a thin, sensitive face which had 
a peculiar yellow pallor, due to close confinement. 
His black hair was sprinkled with gray, and his 
eyes held a wistful, tender expression. 

After all the greetings were over he looked about 
expectantly. 

“ Where’s my girl? ” he asked. 

There was a whirl and flutter of skirts down the 
dark stairway. 

“ Dad! Dad! ” a voice cried from the shadows, 
and Toni rushed out to the steps. 

“ INIy brave little girl! My Toni, my blessing! ” 
he murmured as she clung to him. 



“My BRAVE LITTLE QIRL ! 


My Toni, my blessing! ” — 35« 












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“MERRILY SHALL I LIVE NOW!” 359 


There was a long embrace. 

“ Weel, it’s nae welcome I’m getting,” said a 
soft voice. 

Toni turned quickly. “ Jean! ” she cried. 

“ Yes, my Bit Lady, it’s Jean. My, but you’re 
a sicht for sair een! ” 

“ I didn’t think you’d be completely happy 
without the Scotch thistle, Toni,” said Grandfather, 
stepping forward. 

Toni gasped with delight. “ You dear old 
Grandfather! or Fairy Godfather, I should call 
you! ” she exclaimed, kissing him joyously. 

“ He deserves that name, Toni,” said her father; 
and he drew her to his arms again. 

“ I wish you could see yourself, Toni,” remarked 
Basil; and they all laughed at her disheveled ap- 
pearance. 

Her dress was partly unbuttoned ; her hair hung 
about her shoulders; one foot was bare, and the 
stocking that should have covered it was pulled up 
on her right arm; on the other foot she wore a 
rubber; and her hair-ribbon was tied about her neck. 

“ My wits went woozy when I heard the car- 
riage!” she cried. “I just had to rush down to 
you, Dad. Oh, thank you. Grandfather, for giving 
me my father! I’ll go up now and make myself 
presentable.” 


360 


RAINBOW GOLD 


“ Let me go wi’ ye, my lassie; and I’ll dress your 
hair like the guid auld times,” said J ean. 

“And I’ll show Father up to his room,” added 
Cecily. 

“We are going to have supper in the garden. 
It will be ready soon,” warned Aunt Olivia. 

It was a happy meal under the trees. Toni sat 
between her father and grandfather. Although she 
was hungry, she was too much excited to eat. With 
contented little sighs she would stroke her father’s 
hand or press her face against his sleeve. Then she 
would turn to her grandfather and give his hand a 
gentle squeeze. 

After Delia had cleared the dishes away, the two 
men smoked. Toni insisted on lighting their pipes 
for them. 

“ You see I haven’t forgotten how to do it. 
Daddy,” she said. “ Nor am I too big to sit on 
your knee, as I used to do.” 

She cuddled into his arms. “ Draw your chair 
a little nearer, Grandfather,” she added, reaching 
out for his hand. 

She gazed at the sky with happy eyes. “ Oh, 
look at that wonderful cone-shaped cloud! It looks 
like a Fujiyama rising out of a rosy-gold mist.” 

“ In a few months from now we’ll be looking at 
the real Fujiyama instead of a cloud-mountain,” 


‘‘MERRILY SHALL I LIVE NOW!” 361 


observed Cecily. “ I have always wanted to go to 
Japan, because I like the Japanese tea-cups and 
fans so much.” 

“And I have always longed to ride in those 
grown-up baby-carriages they have in Japan,” 
laughed Toni. “ Those — what do you call them? — 
jinksy-winksy things.” 

“You mean jinrikisha — the Japs’ pull-man- 
cars,” said Basil. 

“ Oh, won’t it be glorious ! ” cried Cecily. “And 
think how unhappy we were last year! We 
thought we were the most miserable people in the 
world. How everything has changed ! ” 

“ Yes, Cecily,” agreed Grandfather. He turned 
to Aunt Olivia. “ Olivia, you and Priscilla have 
renewed your youth, and I — I have renewed my 
heart. Life is worth living now.” 

“ We owe it to the children, Basil,” was Aunt 
Olivia’s response. 

“ It was a day of good fortune for us when these 
three little exiles arrived in Peacedale. We were a 
trio of fossils before they came. Humph!” con- 
tinued Aunt Priscilla. 

“And it was fortunate for the little exiles.” Mr. 
Hamilton smiled, and there was a soft light in his 
eyes, which were like Toni’s, but without the star- 
shine that gleamed in hers. 


362 


RAINBOW GOLD 


“ I feel like singing Ariel’s song,” said Toni. 
“ * Merrily, merrily, shall I live now.’ Grand- 
father, you are Prospero. With your magic art 
you have untangled all the snarls of our lives ; you 
have charmed the elements and helped us to reach 
the Land of Happy-ever-after.” 

Crickets chirred, and the croak of a frog came 
through the air, mellowed by distance. The moon 
climbed over the tree-tops and silvered the garden, 
save where velvety shadows lurked beneath the 
boughs. Moon-rays rippled and wavered over the 
sea; and the foam-fringed waves kissed the shore 
with a gentle, swishing sound. A hidden bird in a 
neighboring free woke suddenly from a dream of 
the dawn, and piped a little fluty tune, as though he 
thought the morning had already come. 

“ It’s good to be alive,” murmured Toni. “ To 
love and to be together — for always. This sad, 
weary year seems to be fading away like mist; and, 
in looking back, we shall see every cloud wreathed 
with rainbows ” 

“And at the end of every rainbow will be gold — 
rainbow gold,” finished her father. 


THE END 


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